ethno at eastman advocacy through art song notes · a certified apsi® instructor, will teach the...

Opening New Doors

Eastman’s Community Music School

in its New Home

EASTMAN

Spring 2019

NOTESCONVERSATION

Barbara B. SmithOUTREACH

Advocacy through Art SongEthno at Eastman

Check out our new website!Explore the 40+ programs, institutes, workshops, and collegiate courses (online and on-site) we’re offering this summer!

NEW PROGRAMS• Eastman French Horn Institute• Eastman Saxophone Project

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SUMMER@ EASTMAN 2019

E A S T M A N S C H O O L O F M U S I C • U N I V E R S I T Y O F R O C H E S T E R

NEW THIS YEAR!The College Board has approved Eastman as an APSI® MUSIC THEORY site. Dr. Joel Phillips, a certified APSI® instructor, will teach the five-day workshop, offering AP teaching certification.

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 1

ON THE COVER (left to right): Naomi Foley ’99E, Young Eastman Children’s Chorus Director, with ECMS students Maria Kim (piano), Peter Foley (bass), and Micah Kim (violin). Peter is Naomi’s son and Maria and Micah are children of Sophia Gibbs Kim ’98E (MM), ’06E (DMA), ECMS senior faculty member in flute. PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHELLE MARTORELL

As it approaches a centennial in a beautiful new home, Eastman’s Community Music School continues to enrich Rochester.

Eastman alumni in the Lynx Project bring the rarefied song recital to fresh new places.

Opening New Doors

Advocacy through Art Song

Interdisciplinary and influential, “ethno” has a lively presence at Eastman. Also: an interview with Barbara B. Smith ’43E (MM)

Ethnomusicology at Eastman

MICHELLE MARTORELL

2From the Dean

3Brief Notes

4Alumni on the Move

21School News

25Recordings

27Advancement Notes

28Alumni Notes

32In Memoriam

34Tributes

35Faculty Notes

36Student Notes

18814

{ Spring 2019 }

The mbira or “thumb piano,” part of Zimbabwe’s Shona culture for centuries, is a welcome recent arrival at Eastman.

2 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019

{ FROM THE DEAN }

10% Total Recovered Fiber100% Post-Consumer Fiber

EDITORDavid RaymondCONTRIBUTING WRITERSSarah ForestieriDan GrossJessica KaufmanLaura SouzaCONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERSKurt BrownellMichelle MartorellNic MinetorDESIGNSteve Boerner Typography & Design, Inc.PRINTINGTucker Printers

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONSEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONSJessica KaufmanEDITORIAL DIRECTORDavid RaymondCREATIVE ARTS DIRECTORMichelle MartorellSECRETARYOlga Malavet

Published twice a year by the Office of Communications, Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street, Rochester, NY 14604, (585) 274-1050.

Eastman-Notes@ esm.rochester.edu

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NOTESVolume 36, Number 2Spring 2019

As you’ll read in our “School News” in this issue, the Eastman School of Music will celebrate its centennial in 2021–22. Throughout the whole of its history, George Eastman’s inspirational idea of an outstanding music school that exists “for the enrichment of community life” has been a guiding principle. The Eastman Community Music School is the exemplar of this principle.

In our nearly one hundred years of existence, Eastman has become a world leader among music schools. United by a universal love for this art form, talented students from all over the world develop into a community of mature artists who not only go on to become professional musicians, but who also bring their artistry, their passion for connection, and their desire to make a difference in the world through music as they return to their homes, or—like our alumni profiled in the Lynx Project—settle into a city and enrich additional communities with music.

In the article about the renovation of Messinger Hall, the Eastman Community Music School’s home, ECMS director Petar Kodzas asks: “How often do you have the opportunity in education to come up with something no one else does?” At Eastman, I’m happy to say, this opportunity comes up frequently, and is met caringly and imaginatively, with ingenious solutions that bring the unique joys and satisfactions of music to a larger com-munity and are adopted enthusiastically. The Pathways program and ROCmusic are just two of several initia-tives that provide increased access to and opportunities for Rochester City School District students to be richly involved with music.

Projects geared to the community are sometimes termed as “outreach.” At Eastman, we prefer to think in terms of “engaging with our community.” Given our presence in the center of the city, and our fervent belief

in the power of music to touch people at the core of their very being, engaging with our community is not some-thing we do, it is simply part of who we are.

In her Eastman Notes interview, ethnomusicologist and Eastman alumna Barbara B. Smith describes “out-reach” as complemented by “inreach”: welcoming the community into the school, particularly by offering per-formance ensembles. The New Horizons ensembles for all ages, developed at Eastman and replicated throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, exemplify our “inreach,” as well as what Ms. Smith calls “music for people’s sake.”

Music creates more compassionate and caring individ-uals, musicians who will go out into the world intent to connect and build relationships in every town, in every city, in every corner of the world. For the “community” George Eastman spoke of in 1921, describing the mission

of his new music school, is in reality every community in the nation and the world where Eastman alumni are on a quest to make life ever better through music.

Over the last ninety-eight years, many things have changed at Eastman, but I am proud to say that our commitment to the “enrichment of community life” or “music for people’s sake” has been steadfast. In fact, it is stronger than ever, and will guide us confidently into our next hundred years.

Meliora,

Jamal J. RossiJoan and Martin Messinger Dean

Creating Circles of Community

Projects geared to the community are sometimes termed as “outreach.” At Eastman, we prefer to think in terms of “engaging with our community.” Given our presence in the center of the city, and our fervent belief in the power of music to touch people at the core of their very being, engaging with our community is not something we do, it is simply part of who we are.


{ BRIEF NOTES }

A Double Reed DinnerDuring May 2019, oboists Hugo Souza ’20E (DMA candidate) and Noah Kay ’16E toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. During the tour, they met up with fellow oboist Amari Barash ’97E; Udo Heng, the general manager of Reeds ’n’ Stuff; and bassoonist Adrian Morejon, who has an Eastman connection, having coached chamber music with Professor of Oboe Richard Killmer at Yale. Pictured left to right are Udo, Amari. Hugo, Noah, and Adrian.

Tamar Greene, AKA the “venerated Virginian veteran” George Washington (right), backstage with Hamilton cast-mate Jared Howelton, who has played Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson.

Washington on His SideTamar Greene’s ’12E (MM) world was turned upside down when he was offered the plum role of George Washington in the Chicago company of Hamilton last fall, and he didn’t throw away his shot. He made his debut on September 25, 2018, celebrated his 100th performance in Hamilton in December, and continues in the role. (The show recently announced a closing date

of January 5, 2020.) Tamar fell in love with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony, Grammy, and Pulitzer-winning musical when he saw it on Broadway, and he is ecstatic to be in the room where it happens. While in Chicago, Tamar has also had the honor of singing “The Star-Spangled Banner“ at a Bulls game . . . as befits our first president.

Gourmet GuidesZeneba Bowers ’94E, ’96E (MM) writes: “My husband Matt Walker and I have

recently published our fourth small town guide-book for foodies— this one for Italy’s Alpine Lakes. Our three previous guidebooks (Tuscany, Ireland, and Emilia Romagna) have won multiple indie publishing awards, and we have high hopes for this one!” (See an Alumni News item about Zeneba on p. 30.)

Ready, Set, Read!Assistant Professor of Mu-sic Teaching and Learning Alden Snell ’06E (MA), ’13E (PhD) is a co-author, with Suzanne Burton, of Ready, Set, Improvise! The Nuts and Bolts of Music Improvisation (Oxford Uni-versity Press, 2018). The book advocates “singing, rhythmic chanting, moving, and playing instruments,” with the goal of “[devel-oping children] capable of creating music in the moment.”

Connor Chee ’09E won the category “Best New Age Instrumental Song” at the 18th annual Native American Music Awards in October for his song, Beginnings, featured on his album Emergence. Connor performed with his grandfather (on the right) during the live award show.

4 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 CARLIN MA (PAIEMENT); GRANT TAYLOR (THOMPSON)

Rich Thompson’84E (MM), drummer, Eastman Associate Professor of Jazz Student and Contemporary Media

■ Rich had a very busy fall 2018 semester. “On the first day of school, I was performing in Newport Beach, California, for the Sundown Jazz Festival with trumpet-er Byron Stripling ’83E (pictured), Bobby Floyd, and LA guitarist Bruce Foreman. In September I performed with the Byron Stripling Quartet at The Jazz Bistro in St. Louis. This club, run by Gene Dobbs Bradford ’89E, is one of the nicest jazz venues in the United States. In October, I was a guest artist with the Jacksonville Sym-phony and the Erie Philharmonic. In November, I spent Thanksgiving week performing two shows per day and three on Saturday with the Byron Stripling Quartet at Marian’s Jazz Room in Bern, Switzerland,” which Rich calls “one of the premier jazz rooms/clubs in the world, rivaled by the Blue Note and Dizzy’s in NYC.”

Nicole Paiement’88E (DMA), conductor

■ Nicole is music director of the San Francisco Conservatory’s new music ensemble and of Opera Parallele, a company dedicated to reinventing modern opera for new audiences. She recently conducted a performance of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. “On the podium, I am a musician, not a woman. I am a conductor, someone who understands the work and translates through motion and musicality.”


{ ALUMNI ON THE MOVE }

HENRY FAIR (KARCHIN); JOHNNY ANDREWS/UNC-CHAPEL HILL (RHODES); MICHAEL POEHN (LAUSMANN); STEVEN PISANO (JANE EYRE)

Louis Karchin’73E, composer, conductor

Thomas Lausmann’98E (MM), pianist, conductor, vocal coach

■ Thomas, Head of Music at the Vienna State Opera, will become the Metropolitan Opera’s Director of Music Administration at the start of the 2019–20 season. Thomas is also a pianist with the Vienna Philharmonic and has worked at the Bayreuth Festival, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Seattle Opera, and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Terry Rhodes’80E (MM), ’86E (DMA), singer, administrator, and dean

■ Terry was named interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she served as the senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities since 2012. Still an active performer, she received the University Diversity Award in 2011.

■ Lou’s music will be everywhere in the coming months. March saw the release of Dark Mountains/Distant Lights (New Focus Records), a collection of seven recent solos and duos. In April the New York Virtuoso Singers presented the American premiere of his Hymns from the Dark, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Edicts of Martin Luther. On June 1 he conducted the Orchestra of the League of Composers at New York’s Miller Theater in his Four Songs of Seamus Heaney. And August 8 is the release date for a recording on the Naxos label of his opera Jane Eyre, shown above with soprano Jennifer Zetlan—“a labor of love” in Lou’s words, with a cast that also includes Tom Meglioranza ’95E (MM).

Eastman School of Music graduates add rhythm to our daily lives. They hum

through our minds with unforgettable melodies and stir our souls with

powerful composition s—to the tune of 150 Grammy wins and nominations

in the past 25 years. This mastery of music is everywhere, resounding on our

personal playlists and inside grand concert halls and recording studios,

blending notes and uniting cultures.

TheRochester

For artistry ever better.Effect.

EverBetter.Rochester.edu

8 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 KURT BROWNELL (CANOPY AND INTERIORS)

The Eastman Community Music School (ECMS) opened its doors at the same time as Eastman’s collegiate campus, in September 1921. It has been an integral part of the school, and one of Eastman’s primary connections to the greater Rochester community, ever since.

For nearly a century, the school has offered music les-sons, ensembles, classes, and workshops to students of all ages, backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay. ECMS serves an average of 1,700 students per year, rang-ing in age from four months to 92 years old.

In its new home, Eastman’s Community Music School

continues to enrich RochesterBy Jessica Kaufman and David Raymond

OPENINGNEW

DOORS

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 9MICHELLE MARTORELL (JAZZ BAND)

ECMS students of all ages rehearse and perform in the renovated Karen Rettner Community Center. Shown here: the award-winning Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra, led by its co-director, Charlie Carr ’14E (MM), ’17E (DMA), performed at the opening celebration for the renovation.

Beautiful new spaces in a beautiful new home. Left to right, the Kenlou Foundation Family Lobby on the third floor; the Karen Rettner Community Center; the waiting area for the Karen Rettner (fourth) Floor.

10 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 SIBLEY MUSIC LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (STRING ENSEMBLE); MICHELLE MARTORELL (SPINDLER)

Last year, ECMS celebrated a milestone: an extensive renovation inside and out, the largest in the school’s long history. The 2.8-mil-lion-dollar project included:

• interior upgrades and furnishings in the lobby, including video signage and a permanent lobby attendant desk;

• a keyboard lab, classrooms, teaching studios, and percussion and drum set studios, all completed according to thorough acoustical requirements;

• new community waiting spaces for parents;• an exterior facelift for the building itself, with new awnings and a

canopy at the entrance.

Eastman School of Music National Council Member Karen Rettner and her husband, University of Rochester Trustee Ronald Rettner, were the primary contributors to the 2.8 million-dollar building renovation, which also included generous contributions from The Kenlou Foundation, The Williams Family, Nancie Roop Kennedy ’79E (MM), The Spindler Family Foundation, and members of the ECMS Community, as well as a grant from the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council (FLREDC).

Renovation began in January 2018 and was completed for the begin-ning of classes in September; the Karen Rettner Community Music Center, as the new ECMS space is known, was dedicated on October 3, 2018, and the building has been busily in use ever since.

“Our commitment to Eastman and this project stems from our love of music, the impact of and high level of community engagement and excel-lence at the Eastman Community Music School,” said the Rettners when the project was announced. “We are proud to foster music education and to enrich the lives of community members of all ages by affording

them the opportunity to gain an appreciation of music.”George Eastman would thoroughly approve of the Rettners’ words:

“enrichment” has been the focus of ECMS since its beginning, when Eastman’s own words were carved into the Eastman Theatre façade: “For the enrichment of community life.”

ECMS also benefits the Eastman School of Music community, or perhaps that should be communities: George Eastman’s vision of two schools on one campus—one community, one collegiate,

each complementing the other—has remained constant for almost a century.

“ECMS [then called the Eastman Preparatory Department] was part of the operation from the beginning, without a separate office or separate faculty,” says Vincent Lenti ’60E ’63E (MA), director of the department

Above: Long before the Suzuki Method, ECMS offered beginning instruction in violin, as shown in the class picture from the 1920s. Right: former ECMS student and ECMS piano professor Howard Spindler with a student in his new studio.

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 11MARY ROBEY (NEW HORIZONS BAND AND NEW HORIZONS ORCHESTRA CELLISTS)

from 1970 to 1996. “Faculty members taught on both sides of the fence, so to speak.”

Howard Spindler ’81E (MA), has taught in the ECMS since 1978, but his relationship with Eastman began when he started taking piano lessons in the late 1960s. “I used to come every Friday after school,” he says. “I’d come on the bus or ride my bike and felt like I was entering my special lit-tle world. I see in my own students that special relationship to the school.”

By 1980, when the Preparatory Department was renamed the Community Education Division, Spindler was a faculty member him-self. His education and career took him to Oberlin and to Germany—and back to Gibbs Street, where he earned a master’s degree in musicology at Eastman and joined the ECMS faculty in 1978. He celebrated his 40th year on the ECMS faculty in 2018, and twice served as the school’s interim director.

Echoing Vincent Lenti, he recalls, “At the time I was studying in the prep department, all the teachers were crossover college teachers.” During his Eastman studies he crossed paths with a couple of legendary piano teachers: Cecile Genhart and Barry Snyder ’66E, ’68E (MM). When Spindler was hired in the late seventies, more teachers were hired to cross over between faculties at the college and ECMS and they started to build more robust offerings of strings, winds, and ensembles “And,” he says, “it has been growing ever since.” He remembers that ECMS offered mostly instruction in piano and violin; now it offers all instruments and voice, along with academic theory and history courses.

As a master’s student at Eastman, Spindler started accompanying Suzuki violin students. Eventually, he says, “I realized that I was good at teaching children and that I liked teaching children, which had never occurred to me. It’s still an important part of my work.”

Many of the changes in the Community Education Division reflected changes in the city of Rochester, and in most American cities, from the 1950s through the 1970s, when many families moved to the suburbs. In the 1980s and 1990s, as more Baby Boomers began to age and retire, ECMS offered classes and lessons to both ends of the age spectrum, and began an outreach to students in the Rochester City School District.

While its programs grew, the ECMS offices remained located on the fourth floor of the main building, until, in 2003, Eastman Community Music School moved to a building that opened in 1950 as the Lincoln Building, on the corner of East Avenue and Gibbs Street. Over the years it was the home of an oriental rugs store and a piano

New Horizons ensembles include a concert band (above, with visiting students from Rochester’s School 15 and teacher Mary Robey) and an orchestra, whose cello section is shown at left—including Susie Truesdell ’97S (MBA), at the far right.

12 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 MICHELLE MARTORELL

showroom, as well as smaller businesses like a diner, a jewelry store, and a razor repair shop. Louis Ouzer, Eastman’s “unofficial photographer” for a half-century, also had his studio on the street floor of the building, which was bought by the school and renamed Messinger Hall in 2006.

The ECMS outreach now includes many ensembles and programs, including:

Eastman Pathways: A component of the William Warfield Partnership between Eastman and the Rochester City School District, Pathways provides scholarship aid to outstanding RCSD students to pursue music studies at Eastman.

Early Childhood Music: Developed by Senior Associate Dean of Adademic and Student Affairs Donna Brink Fox, who is Director of the program. These classes develop the musicality of very young children, from babies to first graders.

New Horizons Ensembles were also developed at Eastman, under Professor Emeritus Roy Ernst. New Horizons is a program designed in particular for senior adults, with no minimum or maximum age or ability requirement, flourishing in a non-competitive, collaborative, and supportive environment.

ROCmusic is an Eastman partnership with the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, the City of Rochester, the Rochester Philharmonic

Orchestra, the Rochester City School District, and the Gateways Music Festival. Inspired by Venezuela’s influential youth music program El Sistema, ROCmusic provides tuition-free music and string instruction to urban children in their own neighborhoods.

Current ECMS Associate Dean and Director Petar Kodzas ’99E (DMA) has been associated with Eastman since he was a grad-uate student in classical guitar in the 1990s. “Even as a student,

I was always interested in outreach,” says Kodzas. “I always wanted to play music for people who had never heard the classical guitar.”

In 1995 he became a teaching assistant, and by 1998 he was teach-ing full-time. During that time the school was under the directorship of Andrew Dabczynski ’76E from 1996 to 2002, and Howard Potter ’82E (MM) from 2002 to 2017, and it continued to grow, including an increased presence in Eastman’s summer session with jazz and other residential programs. Kodzas also led Eastman’s “Music for All” chamber music outreach program (now called “Eastman to Go”) and the “Eastman Immersion” fifth-year program. These experiences got him more and more interested in administration.

“They allowed me to be creative without teaching or performing,” says Kodzas. “How often do you have the opportunity in education to come up with something no one else does?”

Kodzas succeeded Potter as full-time director of ECMS in 2017. “I had experience from every angle: as an intern, a faculty member, summer teaching, administrative, as a parent, and as a performer. It felt like

“I couldn’t have gotten into Eastman without the help of ECMS,” says current PhD student Stephanie Venturino (at left, shown with student Abigail Carpenter). Stephanie studied at ECMS throughout high school, received an Eastman bachelor’s degree in saxophone, and is now a PhD student in theory.

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 13MICHELLE MARTORELL

the right thing. It felt like a call, a need—perhaps as my daughter was also here.” Kodzas’ daughter Ela started as an ECMS student, starting with Early Childhood Music classes, continuing through lessons, theory classes, and ensembles. She is now an Eastman undergraduate.

“The school is in a good place,” says Kodzas. “We are seen as the elite music school in town. I have only one hope and mission: to get more kids involved in music. We need to go outside Gibbs Street. Beyond filling each studio, we can do much more.”

Many scientific studies have proven the positive effects of musical education on math and science test scores, mental acuity, and physical coordination, for all ages of

musicians. No matter what their age, ECMS students share the desire to enrich their lives through music: discovering or rediscovering it as adults, or training as middle school or high school students and moving on to college music schools.

One of the latter is Stephanie Venturino ’17E, an Eastman music theory doctoral student who joined ECMS as a middle school student. She says, “Eastman Community Music School stands in a category of its own, serving the community and this preparatory environment.”

In contrast is Susie Truesdell ’97S (MBA), who started studying the cello as an ECMS student two years before she retired as a hospital administrator at Strong. In her third year, her instructor recommended that she try performing in an ensemble: the New Horizons Orchestra.

Susie now performs in two of them: the string orchestra has about thirty members, the full orchestra sixty, whose individual members have very varied musical backgrounds. “We have a few new faces every year,” she explains, primarily from word of mouth from current members, or because they are recommended by their private teachers.

While members need to know how to read music, she adds that “There’s a lot of teaching that goes into it. We spend a lot of time on different bow strokes and rhythms, but the conductor also tells us about the piece: what the story was, what was going on the world at the time.

“It soon became clear to me,” Susie continues, “that it wasn’t just about sitting around and playing music together. It’s a huge amount of fun. And for those of us who are retired, fun is the aim. After you retire, you lose that work family, so this has become a second family for us.”

The rehearsals lead to Eastman performances: in December in Kilbourn Hall, and in May in Kodak Hall. “The first time we performed there, and I looked out, it was breathtaking,” says Susie. “And terrifying. But when you come to the end of a semester and can sit down and play a piece of music well enough that an audience can recognize it—that is a huge accomplishment.”

W hile many are attracted to ECMS simply by having fun mak-ing music, the school’s “preparatory” aspect—training at a high level, possibly leading to a career in music—remains

very strong. Many ECMS students attend ECMS throughout middle school and high school, and then go on to major in music in college; Stephanie Venturino is an outstanding example, receiving a bache-lor’s degree in saxophone in 2017, and now writing her dissertation on 20th-century French music for saxophone. She hopes to become a collegiate theory professor, and right now is also an ECMS instructor, carrying on her enthusiasm for music to younger students.

A native of nearby Palmyra, New York, Stephanie remembers being brought to Eastman for lessons and classes as “an almost daily occur-rence.” She originally heard about ECMS through one of its summer offerings, “Middle School Band Adventure,” and took a tour of the school. “When I walked into Kodak Hall and saw that chandelier, I immediately thought to myself, ‘This is where I want to go to school.’”

“I wouldn’t have gotten into Eastman without the help of ECMS,” she continues. “I took advantage of every class and every opportunity. ECMS offered me high-quality education in any discipline I chose—saxophone, Latin jazz, flute. I didn’t even know what music theory was until I took classes with [longtime ECMS theory professor] Margaret Henry. She opened me to music theory as a discipline and piqued my intellectual curiosity.”

With the larger studios and labs, more engaging appearance, and up-to-date facilities of its new home, the Eastman Community Music School is heading into a new century of piquing the curiosity and enriching the lives of many students. “It’s very powerful to see all these students together in this newly renovated space,” says Stephanie. “My students’ engagement with materials and real desire to learn is really just unmatched. I see all different ages, working towards the same goal with the same passion.”

Petar Kodzas ’99E (DMA) has been the Associate Dean of the Eastman Community Music School since 2017.

Karen Rettner and her husband Ronald Rettner were primary contributors to the renovation of the ECMS Community Music Center and fourth floor of the school.

14 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 DAVE JONES (GAMELAN)

By David Raymond

When Ellen Koskoff came to Eastman in 1980, ethnomusicology was not an accepted academic discipline in most music schools. In fact, it didn’t even have a name until 1950, when Jaap Kunst published his Anthropology of

Music. But in recent years ethnomusicology has become increasingly influential, and at present it is important not just in Eastman’s musicology department, but in many other departments at Eastman and at the University's College of Arts and Sciences.

Koskoff was trained as a pianist and harpsichordist, but she recalls: “I was wandering in the University of Pittsburgh library and on the shelves found a book with a yellow cover . . . Anthropology of Music. I read it like I now read mystery novels, I was riveted. When I finished I knew what I wanted to do. Ethnomusicology brought together my interests in music, in politics, and in feminist activism.”

There was one drawback: “Ethnomusicology as an academic discipline didn’t exist there”—so she went to the university’s Anthropology department and proposed that she do fieldwork on the role of women in Pittsburgh’s Hasidic Jewish community, which eventually became her first book, Women in Lubavitcher Life.

What is ethnomusicology? Simply put, it is the study of music across diverse cultural and geographical settings. On the academic level it is interdisciplinary, exploring the relationship of religion, history, and language to music, and also the role of music in areas like gender studies, sound studies and digital media, and postcolonial history. Eastman’s ethnomusicology students and faculty members have developed relation-ships with the University’s Anthropology, Visual and Cultural Studies, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Koskoff says ethnomusicology was “consistently misunderstood” by scholars and performers focused on Western Classical music, with its emphasis on interpreting “pure” music printed on a page. This started to change in the 1980s when ethnomusi-cology began to be better integrated with musicology departments, including Eastman’s.

Koskoff taught individual classes and surveys, and in the late ’90s she received an offer to create and direct a master’s program in ethnomusicology at Eastman. She is

now Professor Emeritus of Musicology, and has had the satisfaction of building a strong program in an increas-ingly influential area of study.

“Historical approaches took precedence over critical study of musicology, creating an atmosphere much more receptive to ethnomusicology,” she explains. “We have two tracks now—historical musicology and ethnomusi-cology. The old hegemony is gone.”

Eastman students now have the options of a Certificate in World Music and a Diploma in Ethnomusicology direct-ed by two full-time faculty members: Associate Professor Jennifer Kyker, who is also an Associate Professor of Music at the River Campus, and

An increasingly influential academic discipline has a lively presence at Eastman.

ETHNOEASTMAN

at

“The music of the gamelan was unlike anything I had heard before,” says Tom Torrisi ’18E (DMA), performing seated at the far left. Right: members of the mbira ensemble (John Green ’13E (MA) (back), Greg Doscher, Julia Egan ’16E, Glenn West ’96 (MBA), ’14E (MA), Ken Luk) in a recent concert.

Continued on page 17

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 15MICHELLE MARTORELL (MBIRA)

Ethnomusicologist Barbara B. Smith expanded musical and academic boundariesBy Dan Gross and David Raymond

Barbara B. Smith ’43E (MM) is one of America’s leading ethnomusicologists—a disci-pline which, as she says here, did not even exist when she was an Eastman student. When Prof. Smith came to the University of Hawai’i in 1949,

the Music Department was just being established; she taught piano and theory. Through the com-munity and her students, she became aware of the rich heritage of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific musics

and set about to understand them.She early recognized the value and poten-

tial of ethnomusicology at the University, and designed lecture courses and education workshops. She also established the master’s degree program in ethnomusicology in 1960, becoming a seminal figure at the University of Hawai'i. After retiring in 1982, Barbara B. Smith was named Professor Emeritus of Music, and continued field work and advocacy research throughout the Pacific.

What was Eastman like when you completed your graduate program?Howard Hanson was then the director, and the school’s special focus beyond excellence in study and performance of European “art music” mirrored his promotion of contem-porary American music developed from that European concert music—especially that of melodic romanticism rather than that of the more mechanistic style (if I can call it that) being developed simultaneously by some American composers in New York City. He was not interested in American folk musics, jazz, or pop music—or the traditional “high-art” musics of Asia, or any music of Africa.

I was fortunate to have been a piano student of Cecile Genhart: a remarkable musician and pianist, who was devoted to furthering the best

“MUSIC FOR PEOPLE’S SAKE”

Continued on page 16

16 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC

interests of her students, and open to teaching them recently composed repertoire for “her” instrument.

Was your interest in ethnomusicology encouraged?No. That would have been impossible. Not only because that term had not yet been coined, but more importantly because there was no interest in anything related to what later came to be called ‘ethnomusicology’.

How has the field of ethnomusicology changed since you started teaching it?If I were to answer that, it would be almost its entire history as designated by that name, which was first pub-lished in Holland in 1950 as a hyphenated term. Though I hadn’t learned of it until the 1957 summer session or used it by that name until 1959, I had begun to study what I referred to as the music of the ancestral heritages of my students (virtually all of whom were of Hawaiian or Asian ancestries) in 1955. Having spent my 1956 sabbati-cal leave in Asia, I taught the course “Art Musics of Asia” in summer session 1957. The MA with concentration in Ethnomusicology was approved in 1960. My students, and the students of my students, are better qualified than I to comment on changes since 2000.

How could it be improved as a field of study?If you mean “Can the field of ethnomusicology be further developed?” my answer is “yes,” because society will inevitably change. It must also change to avoid becoming just a relic in the history of academic disciplines.

Ever since its beginning, ethnomusicology has added a continuing stream of meth-odologies from other disciplines and foci of emerging social issues. At present, many ethnomusicologists are studying “Sound Studies” that go far beyond what has been known about the psychological effects of drumming and extensive repetition of rhyth-mic patterns on listeners’ heart-rates.

Ethnomusicology can, in my view should, contribute effectively to the well-being of the local community in which it is located. For example, if a university adopts a new strategic plan, its ethnomusicology program should add an additional focus to support it. I am also intrigued by the architectural development of so-called “smart rooms” that may enable more students to gain acquaintance with ethnomusicology’s breadth of interests as a component of their BA or other undergraduate degree; while I also hope that some one-on-one work with an outstanding researcher-scholar-teacher will remain a valuable component for graduate degrees.

And if you mean those professionally engaged in its study, my answer is again “yes”—by increasing the role of people indigenous to the society whose music is stud-ied, so as to have a more equal balance between the findings and interpretations of work by outsiders-to-the-culture who look in at it, and the perspectives and intentions of insiders-to-the-culture who look out from it.

Have women in ethnomusicology always been accepted as equals in this field?Not really, in terms leadership of the field per se, but more quickly and probably more extensively than in some of the older academic disciplines.

How did the academic musical world look at this field of study when you started to get involved in it?If what you mean by the “musical world” is that of musicians, scholars, and

music-lovers of the European and European-derived tradition—ethnomusicology was thought of as the study of musics of the “long ago and/or far away,” or as music other than that of the “Great European Tradition”.

Why is the field of ethnomusicology important for musicians to study?To broaden their perspective on what is music and its role in the world’s societies. As I look back on my life, as a very young child I felt music was important because of what it meant to me; by the time I was ten years old I was admonished to think beyond myself, to music as an “Art for Art’s Sake”. Still later, rather than focusing on masterpieces, and especially since moving to Hawai’i, I came to value “music for people’s sake,” which I think may be consonant with both an ethnomusicological view, and also consonant with what has recently been increasingly recognized and effectively put into practice in some Hawaiian public intermediate-schools that have large percentages of underprivileged youths.

What about the general population?It’s not really the discipline per se with its methodology, etc., that is important to the general population. Rather, it is ethnomusicology’s focus on non-Western musics that not only expands the sources for aesthetic experi-ences, but also leads to understanding and respect for the people who created and perform them, as well as music’s numerous roles in human life.

Tell us about establishing the University of Hawai’i’s ethnomusicology program.The impetus for initiating a course on the musical

In the mid-1950s, says Barbara Smith of her teaching at the University of Hawai'i, "I began to study the music of the ancestral heritages of my students."

Continued from page 15

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 17KURT BROWNELL (KOSKOFF); GERRY SZYMANSKI (KYKER); COURTESY OF ANAAR DESAI-STEPHENS

heritages of our multi-ethnic students was uninten-tionally overhearing a conversation among some of the most talented, eager, and conscientious students in my first-year theory course, in which they dis-cussed their lack of self-esteem because everything they were learning at the University was “white” (Euro-American) and they were not. The other main-land-born and -educated music faculty members, all of whom also knew how widespread this prob-lem was, considered it the students’ responsibility to “just get over it”. My conviction that something should be done led six years later to the graduate program in ethnomusicology.

What challenges did you have to overcome?Primarily the resistance of the music faculty of having anything but what they were then teaching even avail-able in the department—and certainly no Asian music! In an incident that I now look back on with amuse-ment, one of my colleagues, who had heard a few Japanese pop songs in a bar in Waikiki, told the others that I couldn’t really be a good musician if I liked that awful stuff. But I do admit that bringing our students, very few of whom had an educational basis in music comparable to first-year music majors in the States, was a challenge to the department (and to me).

What has been the most rewarding part of this program?From the local multi-cultural community’s per-spective, I think it would be that what previously had been only out-reach from the university to the community (e.g. in agriculture and technology), expanded to in-reach from the community to the university—especially through our performance ensembles. To the Music Department, it has been the prestige it brought both nationally and interna-tionally. For the Composition faculty, introduction to the tremendous resources of traditional musical concepts and musical instruments—especially the string instruments of Northeast Asia—for their cre-ative endeavors. To me, personally, it has been my students and what they have done.

How does it feel seeing so many of your students go on to so much success?It feels great! What more could I as a teacher ask, than that the wonderful people I was privileged to have as students have gone on to successful careers that have expanded and enhanced what (at least in part) they learned though their studies in Hawai’i—careers that in turn have been not only successful for them personally and for ethnomusicology as a discipline, but also enhance the lives of the people in their communities and countries.

Assistant Professor Anaar Desai-Stephens. Both are internationally recognized not only for their research (Kyker’s in Zimbabwean music, Desai-Stephens’ in Indian music), but also as performers.

“Musical practice has become more connective, seen more as part of society,” says Desai-Stephens. “Ethnomusicologists see music in a social context and more holistically, as practice and as process.”

Eastman’s regular concerts include a World Music Series underwritten by Barbara Smith ’43E (MM)—“guardian angel of Eastman ethnomusicology,” as Koskoff refers to her, and a giant in the field who is still active at nearly 100 years old. (See the interview on page 15.) Audiences have recently enjoyed musicians from Cuba, India, Japan, Ireland, Spain, and many other coun-tries, and Eastman’s Gamelan Lila Muni makes an annual appearance.

Besides their sonic delights, East-man’s world music ensembles offer solid technical advantages to stu-dents studying other instruments. Ellen Koskoff recalls being accosted in Eastman’s Main Hall by a longtime professor of a traditional orchestral instrument who praised the improve-ments in musical skills—memory, ability to improvise, sense of ensem-ble—in her students who played in the gamelan.

“I joined the gamelan ensemble in my first semester,” says guitarist Tom Torrisi ’18E (DMA), “and rehearsal became the most eagerly anticipat-ed part of my week. The music—the sound, structure, performance techniques, learning style—was unlike anything I had done before. I decided to add the Advanced Certificate in Ethnomusicology to my classical guitar DMA.

“In rehearsals, we learn all of our music by rote and memorize it for our concerts. This showed me the value and effectiveness of learning music using our ears, eyes, and bodies instead of written notation. I have since incorporated similar techniques into my own teaching.”

“I have always lived in a multicultural world,” says Anaar Desai-Stephens, and Eastman’s embrace of ethnomusicology reflects that reality. The foundation of ethnomusicology, says Ellen Koskoff, is tolerance and open-mindedness: “respect for others’ musics.”

EnsemblesStudents studying any instrument can join one of Eastman’s world music ensembles, which perform several times each year at the school and in the community.

Gamelan Lila Muni (Heavenly Sound) and Gamelan Sanjiwani (Life Force)—Balinese percussion orchestras directed by I Nyoman Suadin

Eastman Mbira Ensemble, directed by Glenn West

West African Drumming Ensemble, led on the River Campus by Kerfala Bangoura

Ethnomusicologists (left to right): Ellen Koskoff; Jennifer Kyker; Anaar Desai-Stephens.

Continued from page 14

18 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 GERRY SZYMANSKI (FOUNDING MEMBERS)

The Lynx Project is an art song initiative created by soprano Caitleen Kahn and mezzo- soprano Megan Moore in 2015 after completing their graduate degrees at Eastman. Together with Eastman alumni Steven Humes and Florence Mak they form the Lynx Project: an ensemble with the goal of bringing the incredible world of art song to a wider audience through intimate and inclusive performances and an exploration of the bound-aries of traditional recital form.

By Sarah Forestieri

Neither Caitleen Kahn nor Megan Moore can remember exactly who first had the idea, but they agree the spark for the Lynx Project was a discussion about how difficult it was for students and young graduates to find art song performance

opportunities outside of Eastman. “We liked to bounce around ideas about innovating the art form and making it appealing to a larger audience,” says Moore. “We used to muse about just how cheap and easy it is to put on, especially in comparison to opera!”

Advocacythrough

Art SongOfficial meetings began during the last semester of

their master’s degrees, at which time they recruited tenor Steven Humes and pianist Florence Mak to join the orga-nization. “Megan and I really wanted to be professional about it from the get-go,” says Kahn. “It seems funny now, but we thought it would feel too casual if we met at each other’s houses, so we opted to have our ‘business meetings’ at Java’s . . . until we realized how much money we were spending on coffee!”

Caitleen, Megan, and Steven may have begun their Eastman studies solely planning to hone their vocal tech-nique and performance craft, but they were soon drawn to the Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Program (ALP) offered through Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership. This certificate program allows students the

The founding members of the Lynx Project, from left to right: Steven Humes ’15E (MM), Caitleen Kahn ’15E (MM), Florence Mak ’17E (DMA), and Megan Moore, ’15E.

An Eastman alumni initiative gives voice to young people with autism

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 19MAIREAD KAHN

opportunity to explore coursework in several profession-al areas that include Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Arts Administration through paid, for-credit internships in Rochester and around the world.

Kahn credits her ALP experience with giving her some of the necessary professional skills and tools needed to start an organization. “ALP opened my eyes to a whole new set of career possibilities and ways to use music to make a difference. I think the biggest impact Eastman had on me though was the people I met. Wonderful friends, incredible collaborators, and Lynx teammates—tangen-tial connections that turned into job opportunities.”

“I think the ALP Program helped to instill a ‘go-get-it’ attitude about my role in opera,” says Humes. “Part of studying is being able to look around the room and see

who you want to make music with. If you asked me on day one whether we’d all be on this journey together five years later, I wouldn’t have been so sure. However, it’s completely worked out, and for the better!”

Lynx Project has been putting on unique concerts since 2016, including:

• Voices from Beyond the Grave (Fall 2016): an evening of spooky art songs in Cincinnati.

• Snapshots of Every Voice (Spring and Fall 2017): fea-turing five Eastman students and graduates creating a program of art songs based on one simple question: What would you like to speak into the world through music?

• La Serata Musicale (Spring 2017): An evening of Italian Art Song.

Simon Barrad performs with his wife, pianist Kseniia Barrad, during a workshop performance of the Autism Advocacy Project.

20 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 MAIREAD KAHN

Perhaps the most distinctive and signif-icant Lynx project so far is the Autism Advocacy Project, which was launched

in the fall of 2017. The first Autism Advocacy Project set the words of four individuals with autism, between the ages of 12 and 17, to music in newly commissioned art songs.

Megan Moore’s sister, Katie Masotti, who works with children with autism, spe-cializes in an educational method called the Rapid Prompting Method, which allows non-verbal individuals with autism to communicate by pointing to letters on a board (a process called letter-boarding) to spell out words and sentences—and to create poems.

“Before my sister’s work exposed me to the hearts and minds of this community, I would have presumed incompetence from a non-verbal autistic person,” says Moore. “Like so many others, I would have seen the lack of eye contact, the seemingly random physical and vocal outbursts, and assumed there wasn’t much going on in their minds.

“My sister would share with me the complex, honest, and universally relatable thoughts and feelings of the young people with whom she was working. So often these words were also very lyrical, very poetic, and it occurred to me that Lynx Project had an incredible opportunity to be a platform for these voices; to allow their voices to be heard through art song.”

The process began with students submitting their poetry and prose for consideration. From there, composers selected texts that they felt drawn to, and began setting them to music. The March 2018 concert, open to all, featured the words of students Kenta Mignot, Luke Burke, and Michael Zepf, as well as the music of composers Tariq Al-Sabir, Joel Balzun, Liberté-Anne Lymberiou, Travis Reynolds, and Stephen Variames.

The Autism Advocacy Project has received grant funding from ArtsWave and Ohio Arts Council for two years in a row to support this project.

In the Fall of 2018, the Lynx Project presented Behind the Scenes, a workshop which brought together composers, performers, writers and their community to learn more about the process through which each song was written. The emotional

impact of hearing the honest texts of the poet through song was felt by everyone in the room.

For pianist Florence Mak, the experience was “complete-ly eye-opening . . . It’s so easy to take things for granted like having a voice or being able to verbalize our thoughts and emotions. So when we’re able to witness them hearing their voices amplified, it’s an incred-ible experience.”

All members of the Lynx proj-ect agree that some of the most important accomplishments of this project have been real-izing that they have the ability to make people feel heard and important, understanding the need for patience with differ-ent styles of communication, and using the power of music to connect people as individuals.

One of the special moments for Caitleen Kahn was the impact this project has had on

one of their writers, who struggles with severe anxiety and has difficulty leaving his house. “He was unable to attend our workshop performances in October, and upon hearing this, two of this year’s performers, Simon and Kseniia Barrad offered to take a keyboard to his house and perform a private concert for him. Shortly before Christmas, they went over, set the keyboard up in the living room, and performed the commissioned songs for him and his family.

“Once they’d finished these songs everyone wanted them to keep going. Our writer letter-boarded to them that night that he ‘really enjoyed the singing and piano playing,’ and his mom wrote that the family could tell how happy he was.”

While Lynx Project is currently based out of Chicago, they still plan to bring the incredible world of art song to as many people as possible, including another installment of the Autism Advocacy Project in New York City this April.

Today, the four original members remain on the board and staff for Lynx Project, but many of their performers are hired locally from the cities in which the concerts take place. “We see ourselves as an organization, but the ensemble within it is fluid. We’ve always wanted it to be bigger than ourselves.”

ON THE WEB You can see the members of the Lynx Project in a video about the Autism Advocacy Project at https://vimeo.com/249943807

Members of the Lynx Project point out that most of these songs are published independently by the composers, and anyone interested in singing them should contact lynxproject.org.

Luke, one of the Autism Advocacy Project poets, letter-boards at a lunch break as Lynx Project singer Simon Barrad looks on.


{ SCHOOL NEWS }

KURT BROWNELL; EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC ARCHIVES

The Eastman School of Music opened its doors to stu-dents on September 19, 1921, and formally dedicated the building March 3, 1922. Professors Mark Davis Scatterday ’89E (DMA), director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and Sylvie Beaudette ’93E (DMA), assistant professor of chamber music and director of Summer@Eastman, are co-chairing our year-long centennial celebration during the school year 2021–2022, with efforts kicking off during Meliora Weekend: October 1–3, 2021.

We accepted Dean Rossi’s invitation to lead this major undertaking because we believe in the very essence of what the school stands for—music performance, edu-cation, scholarship, research, artistry, and leadership, among so many others—which will help to sculpt the events that will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Eastman School of Music.

At Eastman, we create a musical community that is rich with cultural, social, and intellectual diversity. We invite our alumni, Rochester community, and Eastman com-munity at-large to share with us the energy and artistry that makes up Eastman’s core as we near this historic centennial. Our centennial celebration will honor the past, celebrate the present, and look to the future—not

Meliora! Eastman’s Centennial is Coming!

only for Eastman itself, but also for the future genera-tions of artists that leave Eastman and make their mark on the world for future centennials to come.

Come join us starting in the fall of 2021, as we rejoice in the artistry and excellence which is Eastman. Meliora!

—Mark Davis ScatterdaySylvie Beaudette

The façade of the Eastman Theatre, at East Main and Gibbs Streets, in the 1920s. Above, the opening of Eastman’s East Wing (to the left of the Eastman Theatre façade) was a highlight in the school’s history.


{ SCHOOL NEWS }

Eastman Jazz, on the RecordCapturing a definitive performance of one’s work can be a challenging task for even the most seasoned profes-sional musicians. Since 2014, Eastman’s Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media (JCM) department has produced an annual CD sampler that gives student composers and arrangers the opportunity to lead and prepare a group of musicians, and receive studio time for recording their works.

Through the generosity of the Kenlou Foundation, Eastman’s JCM Department proudly presented its fifth annual Jazz at Eastman recording this spring. The JCM recording project began in 2014. The 2015 recording showcases all the department’s small ensembles of the time, as well as three of Eastman’s large jazz ensembles. The 2016 recording featured the music of Bill Holman, and the 2017 recording featured the music of former Eastman faculty member, department chair, and alumnus Fred Sturm ’84E (MM). All five are now available.

Students’ sample recordings of their compositions and arrangements were vetted by jazz department faculty through a blind submission process. Nine pieces were chosen for the album. New this year are five short film cues, composed by students from Eastman’s new degree program in Film Music and Contemporary Media.

Says Professor and department chair Jeff Campbell ’92E (MM), ’02E (DMA), “There is a palpable buzz at the recording session each year and the students truly rise to the occasion. These recordings provide a great educational tool, allowing our students the chance to present their work at a professional level.”

Max Berlin ’19E, one of the featured students on the 2019 project, says, “the ability to hone in on a perfor-mance and capture a moment is something musicians will be doing their entire lives. Recording is the chance to wrestle with an intimate snapshot of your music—which

creates a kind of learning you cannot find in anything else.”

All five Jazz at Eastman recordings can be purchased by visiting https://eastman.bncollege.com, under textbooks.

—Jessica Kaufman

The 2018 EROI Festival Goes Beyond the StopsBeyond the Stops: Finding the Organ’s Voices, the 2018 Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) Festival, which took place October 24 through 26, brought guests from across the United States to Rochester to celebrate the vast potentials of organ sounds, regardless of chronological, national, or historical styles of organ building.

An international slate of organists, scholars, and builders participated in onsite studies of three land-mark organs, all celebrating their tenth anniversaries last year: the Craighead-Saunders Organ (GOArt/Yokota/Arvidsson) at Christ Church, the Halloran-All Saints Organ (Paul Fritts and Company, Opus 26) at Sacred Heart Cathedral, and the David Tannenberg-style organ (Taylor & Boody, Opus 57) at First Presbyterian Church of Pittsford.

The Italian Baroque organ at the Memorial Art Gallery, the Hook & Hastings organ at Christ Church, and the E. M. Skinner organ at Church of the Ascension present-ed additional opportunities to experience historically diverse performance styles and settings.

David Higgs, Chair of the Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards Department, observed: “As organ-ists, our repertoire spans centuries of national and historical styles, and it’s easy to get caught up in trying to play the various styles ‘correctly.’ [EROI 2018] helped us think ‘beyond the stop names’ to see ways in which sound can transcend styles.” —Jessica Kaufman

A Gateways AnniversaryGateways Music Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary October 30 through November 4, 2018 at Eastman. A highlight was a five-day Community Residency Program, with 20 chamber music performances by Gateways musi-cians in public schools, recreation centers, community music programs, libraries and other community venues throughout the Rochester area.

During the 2017 Gateways Music Festival, 43 students from the Rochester City School District performed in a Young Musicians Institute with Gateways musicians. Last fall, those students and mentors reconnected.

Three special awards were presented at an anniversary luncheon:

• Rising Star Award: Violinist Caitlin Edwards, who participated in her first Gateways Music Festival in

Mike LaBrakeLast fall, Eastman’s Department of Public Safety promoted Officer Michael LaBrake to the rank of Sergeant. Mike began his University of Rochester career in 2001, as a Security Officer, and has worked every officer assignment in Public Safety, but he was drawn to the close-knit community at Eastman. In 2013 he became the lead officer at the Eastman campus, and is now one of the most recognizable faces to Eastman staff, profes-sors, students, adminis-trators, and new officers. Mike frequently remarks that his Eastman assignment is the most rewarding experience of his professional life.

—Gerald R. Pickering, Deputy Director,

UR Department of Public Safety


{ SCHOOL NEWS }

NIC MINETOR (OPERA, LEFT); MICHELLE MARTORELL (OPERA, RIGHT)

2017, is a graduate student at DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago, Illinois.

• Inspiration Award: Paul J. Burgett ’68E, ’72E (MA), ’76E (PhD), a member of the Gateways Board of Directors until his death in August 2018, posthumously received the award for his passion for the mission of Gateways.

• The Trail Blazer Award was given to Armenta Hummings Dumisani, a Juilliard-trained concert pianist (now retired) who founded Gateways in 1993 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Ms. Dumisani brought the festival to Rochester when she joined the Eastman faculty in 1994.

“A 25th anniversary is an occasion to celebrate for any organiza-tion,” said Lee Koonce, President & Artistic Director of Gateways Music Festival. “We’re celebrating great music, world-class musicians, and the extraordinary community support that has sustained Gateways over many years.”

Gateways’ 25th anniversary celebration continues in August 2019 with the full Festival, featuring performances by professional classical musicians of African descent from throughout the United States. (See advertisement in this issue, inside back cover) —Jessica Kaufman

Two Major Gifts . . .Late last year, two members of the University of Rochester’s Board of Trustees, Cathy Minehan ’68 and Chairman Emeritus Danny Wegman, announced gifts totaling $10 million to support Eastman’s faculty and students.

Minehan’s $5 million commitment will establish two Minehan Family Professorships to support world-class Eastman faculty, as well as the Minehan Family Scholarship. (The first Minehan Professor was installed

at Eastman’s May 19 Commencement: Professor of Theory Betsy Marvin ’81E (MA), ’89E (PhD); see page 35.) Minehan studied clarinet at the Eastman Community Music School as a child and took voice lessons at Eastman as a UR student. She is managing director of Arlington Advisory Partners, the Boston-based accounting services firm, and was formerly president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

“Music has incredible power,” says Minehan. “It can inspire, renew our spirit, and even heal. I’m thrilled to support the world’s best musi-cians as they teach, refine their craft, and launch careers that enrich lives around the world.”

Danny Wegman, chairman of Rochester-based Wegmans Food

Polly ’58E, ’60E (MM) and Donald ’54E, ’59E (MM), ’63E (DMA) Hunsberger. The Hunsbergers have established a conducting scholarship, and former Eastman Wind Ensemble director is donating his EWE and film music archives to the Sibley Music Library.

What Lies BeyondEastman Opera Theatre began its 2018–2019 season with an unusual opera that explored whatever may lie beyond the boundaries of earthly life. In the fall, EOT presented Ricky Ian Gordon’s rarely performed Tibetan Book of the Dead, directed by Steven Daigle and with musical direction by Timothy Long. The students in the cast benefited from workshops and coaching with the composer himself, shown above during a visit to Eastman in September.


{ SCHOOL NEWS }

MICHELLE MARTORELL (HALL)

Markets, Inc. and chairman of the board of the Wegmans Family Foundation, Inc., announced a gift of $5 million to support Eastman faculty and students, including student scholarships.

“Music and the arts foster vibrant cities,” says Wegman. “The Eastman School of Music is an incredible asset in our community, and it anchors Rochester’s performing arts scene. It’s important that we continue to invest in Eastman’s faculty and students, who are at the heart of the school’s enduring success.”

. . . and “An amazing tribute”Donald Hunsberger ’54E, ’59E (MM), ’63E (DMA), Conductor Emeritus of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and his wife, Marjorie (Polly) ’58E, ’60E (MM) have made a generous gift to establish the Donald and Polly Hunsberger Endowed Conducting Scholarship at the Eastman School of Music. This permanent fund will pro-vide fellowships for graduate conducting majors, with a preference for students specializing in wind conducting.

Few musicians are more closely associated with Eastman than Don Hunsberger, who led the Eastman Wind Ensemble from 1965 to 2002. Eastman presented Don with its Distinguished Alumni Award at Meliora Weekend 2018.

Don is also donating his extensive Eastman Wind Ensemble and Film Music archives to the Eastman Ensemble Library, where they will provide a research center for Eastman faculty and staff mem-bers, students, and visiting scholars.

Mark Scatterday, chair of the Conducting and Ensembles Department, and the director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, shares, “This wonderful gift from two incredibly generous and kind people is an amazing tribute to the ded-ication the Hunsbergers have had to Eastman for over 68 years. This fellow-ship will truly benefit and support our young conducting students as they study here and help continue to bring the highest quality of students to our wind conducting program.” —Jessica Kaufman

A Technological Triple ThreatEastman Professor of Music Theory Jonathan Dunsby introduced his fall 2018 graduate seminar on “Analysis and Performance” with the words: “In a triply innovative pilot, this course embraces a new approach to teaching, new technology, and institutional collaboration.” For ten weeks, the class, a collaboration between the music theory department and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, one of Eastman’s European partner schools, it provided a look into the future of music study.

The seminar requirements may have been tra-

ditional—weekly discussion sessions and a final formal presentation—but the set-up was state-of-the-art. Bringing together eleven Eastman students and five in Helsinki, the class used Eastman’s state-of-the-art Internet 2 video-conferencing technology to combine the two classrooms, and bring together students and their professors from two continents to turn Hatch Recital Hall into a shared learning space.

Professor Dunsby was joined by two counterparts from the Sibelius Academy, Lauri Suupää and Mieko Kanno. Greg Thompson of Eastman’s Music Technology Department played what Dunsby calls “the director’s role”—setting up cameras, in Hatch Recital Hall, deter-mining optimum microphone placement, and ensuring that each class went off without a hitch.

“I had great confidence in the degree of support/resources the school would provide, and I am so pleased with the result,” says Professor Dunsby. He further notes that the Analysis and Performance seminar hit a number of the “hot buttons” of Eastman’s current strategic plan: joint teaching, applied technology, and partnership with international institutions. He adds that it will be offered again in spring 2020.

Grammy Gold for EastmanEastman alumni and faculty members have been rep-resented at the Grammy Awards since 1973, when Ron

Carter ’59E, ’10E (HRN) was nominated for “Best Jazz Performance by a Group.” This year, several alumni were nominat-ed, and on February 10, five of them won. Congratulations to everyone!

Steve Gadd ’68E for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, The Steve Gadd Band;

Producer of the Year Blanton Alspaugh, in part for a recording of the opera Three Way by Rob Paterson ’95E;

D.J. Sparr ’97E, featured guitar soloist on Spiritualist, which won Best Classical Compendium;

Karim Sulayman ’98E, whose Songs of Orpheus was named Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. (See our back cover for Karim’s account of the Grammys.) And speak-ing of covers, the striking cover photograph of Karim on Songs of Orpheus is by his Eastman classmate, and voice major turned photographer, Dan Taylor ’99E;

Sunny (Jung In) Yang ’06E, cellist of the Kronos Quartet, whose Landfall (music of Laurie Anderson) won the “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble” Grammy;

Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Gary Versace ’93E (MM) received a Grammy nomination for “Best Jazz Vocal Album” for The Subject Tonight is Love. Gary performs on piano, organ, key-boards, and accordion with singer Kate McGarry and guitarist Keith Ganz.

Armand Hall leads ROCmusicArmand Hall is the new Director of ROCmusic— a collaborative pro-gram that provides tuition-free, after-school music instruction to the most financially disad-vantaged children in Rochester. Dr. Hall was previously Coordinator of Instrumental Music Education and Associate Director of Bands at the University of Memphis.

ROCmusic is a partnership between Eastman and The Hoch-stein School, Eastman Community Music School, Gateways Music Festival, City of Roches-ter, Rochester Philhar-monic Orchestra, and the Rochester City School District. Established in 2012, ROCmusic recent-ly expanded to all four quadrants of Rochester, giving every student a better opportunity to re-ceive musical instruction.

“I am ecstatic to be selected to lead the ROCmusic program, a significant conduit between our community and our culturally-rich city,” shares Dr. Hall. “The institutional support for our pro-gram is unparalleled, which speaks volumes about our community partners. I look forward to strengthening and increasing opportunities and access to music for Rochester students and their families.”


{ RECORDINGS }

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EASTMAN WIND ENSEMBLE1 Jeff Tyzik: ImagesSummit Recordings

The EWE’s latest CD with director Mark Scatterday ’89E (DMA) is described by Jeff Tyzik ’73E, ’77E (MM) as “a joyful artistic journey.” Eastman percussionists Michael Burritt ’84E, ’86E (MM) and Assistant Professor Charles Ross are featured in pieces written for them. Jeff’s Triology was inspired by the music of Howard Hanson, and Images: Musical Impressions of an Art Museum by the University’s Memorial Art Gallery.

GLORIA CHENG2 Garlands for Steven StuckyBridge

This CD by the noted new-music pianist is “an anthology of musical tombeaux, short pieces that give voice to endur-ing friendships with the late American composer,” who died in 2016 and was Eastman’s Howard Hanson Visiting Professor of Com-position in 2011–2012. The composers include current Composition Department chair David Liptak ’75E

(MM), ’76E (DMA), Andrew Waggoner ’82E, Hannah Lash ’04E, and David Lefkowitz ’93E (PhD), as well as former term faculty appointment Dan Godfrey and former professor Chris-topher Rouse.

SCHUBERT3 WinterreiseBridge Records

This recording of Schubert’s great song cycle by baritone Randall Scarlata ’92E was released in 2018 and nominated for a 2019 Grammy as “Best Solo Vocal Performance.” Randall is joined by a dis-tinguished colleague and occasional Eastman visitor, pianist Gilbert Kalish.

THE MERRY GENTLEMEN4 Christmas on the RocksMarmoset

Eastman collegiate and Community Music School faculty member Bob Sneider ’93E headlines a new Christmas CD. Along with Bob on guitar, the disc features John Sneider ’91 (Bob’s brother) on trumpet, pianist Reuben Allen ’10E, ’13E (MM) and current graduate student bassist Danny Ziemann ’12E.

THE BASILICA CHOIR5 Live at the Timucua Arts FoundationStemik Music

This Blu-ray video disc captures a concert directed by William Picher ’81E (MM), featuring music of Rachmaninoff, Dawson, Whitacre, Schubert, and more, performed in front of an enthusiastic audience.. William is entering his eighteenth year directing this professional choir in Central Florida.

DAVID LIPTAK6 Dove SongsNew Focus Recordings

Recent works by Professor of Composition David Liptak ’76E (MM), ’78E (DMA) are featured on this new CD. The performers include current Eastman faculty members Steven Doane, Alison D’Amato, and Renée Jolles; professor emeritus Barry Snyder ’66E, ’68 (MM); pianist Margaret Kampmeier ’85E and guitarist Dieter Hennings ’05E, ’15E (DMA); and former Hanson Visiting Professor Tony Arnold, soprano, for whom the work Dove Songs was written.

MARIO FALCAO7 American HarpMark Records

Last year, Mario ’71E (MM) produced this CD of late 20th and 21st-century com-positions by American com-posers. In 2015, he edited two CDs of harp repertoire titled Metamorphosis (16th to late 20th-century rep-ertoire) and Illuminations (17th to late 20th-century repertoire). (For more news about Mario, see p. 28.)

RICHARD AUDD8 Music by Audd, Volume 1rmamusic.com

For his fourth CD, Richard ’71E (MM) conducts the East Pacific Symphony in a program of his own music: his award-winning Concert Fanfare; a six-movement autobiographical work titled editEdmaSTer; and Spectrum 26, written for the Greece (NY) Symphony Orchestra in 1970.

JENTSCH GROUP NO NET9 Topics in American HistoryBlue Schist Records

The latest ambitious suite by Chris Jentsch ’93E

(MM), who majored in history as well as in music, is American history-themed chamber jazz. Commis-sioned by Chamber Music America and Doris Duke New Jazz Works, this 70-minute work for large ensemble abstracts Chris’s impressions of various epi-sodes in American history, from 1491 to the Cold War.

EDITH HEMENWAYq To Paradise for OnionsEtcetera

Among the performers on this release of chamber music by the Savannah, Georgia composer Edith Hemenway are soprano Claron McFadden ’82E, pianist Vaughan Schlepp ’77E, ’79E (MM), and clari-netist Nancy Braithwaite ’75E, a longtime friend of Hemenway’s, who con-ceived the idea of this recorded premiere.

EMMERICH [IMRE] KÁLMANw Kaiserin Josephinecpo

This 1936 operetta by the famed Hungarian compos-er, which is indeed about Napoleon and Josephine, was one of many popular 20th-century stage works


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AMERICAN WILD ENSEMBLEMusic in the American Wild • ArtistShare

From the Mountains to the Prairies . . .Emlyn Johnson ’08E, ’15E (DMA), a new Instructor of Music at Missouri State University, and Daniel Ketter ’10E, ’10, ’17E (DMA), Assistant Professor of Cello at Missouri State University and Principal of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, released a two-disc album, Music in the American Wild, in September. The album includes 11 new commissions by Eastman composers celebrating America’s national parks,

written for the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. (See the Fall 2016 Eastman Notes for more about this project.)

In addition to these 11 new works, the first disc has been set to over an hour of documentary video from the national park tour by Jorge Arzac to help listeners to engage with the inspiration behind the compositions and share the spirit of the tour. The album includes works by Eastman composers Aaron Travers ’03E (MA) ’05E (PhD), Chris Chandler ’17E (PhD), Tonia Ko ’10E, Daniel Pesca ’05E ’16E (DMA), Kevin Ernste ’04E (MA) ’06E (PhD), Aristea Mellos ’12E (MM) ’17E (DMA), David Clay Mettens ’15E (MA), Robert Morris ’65E and Professor of Composition, Adam Roberts ’03E, Jeff Myers ’03E (MA), and Ted Goldman. Both discs are also available for streaming on iTunes.

ON THE WEB More information on Music in the American Wild is available at artistshare.com/musicintheamericanwild, and you can watch a video at youtube.com/watch?v=QCNOh_ofQHY.

banned by the Nazis. Kai-serin (Empress) Josephine was recently revived and recorded in Germany with a cast including baritone Steven Scheschareg ’88E, ’90E (MM) as General Berthier. For more news about Steve, see p. 30.

JOHN FEDCHOCKe ReminiscenceSummit

The newest CD by John ’85E (MM), and his tenth album as leader, is a follow-up to 2015’s Fluidity. John, who has received two Grammy nominations for “Best Instrumental Arrange-ment,” culled tunes for both CDs from a live show he performed over three nights with his quartet—including pianist John Toomey ’82E (MM) and drummer Dave Ratajczak ’80E.

PACIFIC HARP PROJECTr PlayPacificharpproject.com

In 2014, harpist Megan Bledsoe Ward ’08E, ’10E (MM) formed “a jazz-ish ensemble,” and Play is its sophomore album, includ-ing music by Salzedo, Fauré, Handel, and Megan herself. Megan lives in Hawai’i with

her husband, percussionist Allan Ward ’09E (MM), also a member of the group along with vocalist Jamie Jordan ’09E (MA) and bassist Jon Hawes ’93RC.

GEORGE WALKER/ULYSSES KAY/PAUL FREEMANt Black Composers Series 1974–1978Sony Classical

This ten-CD set reissues Columbia Masterworks’ mid-1970s series of music by African-American composers, including several major works by the late George Walker ’56E (DMA), ’12E (HRN): his concertos for piano and trombone, and his most-performed work, Lyric for Strings. Also included is Markings by Ulysses Kay (1917–1995) ’38E (MM), ’40E (PhD). All ten CDs fea-ture another distinguished late African-American musician, conductor Paul Freeman ’56E, ’58E (MM), ’63E (PhD).

TED PILTZECKERy BrindicaZoHo Music

This new jazz CD by composer and vibraphonist Ted ’72E reflects diverse

musical landscapes, people and traditions from BRazil, INDia, and AfrICA, but there are also stops in Bali, Cuba, Puerto Rico, New Orleans, and Harlem. CD HotList called Brindica “. . . a stylistic kaleidoscope of an album that reveals new combinations of rhythm and harmony at every turn.”

OGNI SUONOu SaxoVoceNew Focus

The duo Ogni Suono is made up of vocalist Noa Even and saxophonist Phil Pierick ’16E (DMA), dedicated to enlarging the duo repertoire and, in Phil’s words, exploring “the wide-ranging musical, dramatic, and theatrical possibilities inherent in the synthesis of saxophone and voice.” Composers include Kate Soper, Felipe Lara, Erin Rogers, and Zach Sheets.

Do you have music or performances on a recent or forthcoming CD? Notes wants to know! Send promo copies to Eastman Notes, Office of Communications, Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street, Rochester, NY 14604; or just alert us that it is available.

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 27MICHELLE MARTORELL (HORN ENSEMBLE)

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A “Tally-Ho” for Horn StudentsFounded by Fred and Dorotha Bradley in 1948, the Tally-Ho Music Camp, located in the Finger Lakes region, was a dream come true for the couple. Fred had been a long-time French horn instructor at Eastman, and a member of the horn section of the Rochester Philharmonic and Civic Orchestras. His teaching experiences at Interlochen and Eastman showed him how important it is for students to continue their musical studies during the summer, and for almost 20 years, Tally-Ho Music Camp was able to provide these high-level experienc-es. Many Tally-Ho students went on to Eastman, and pursued careers in music; those campers who did not continued to play for joy and fulfillment. Generations have benefited from Fred’s guidance, inspiration, and dedication.

Barbara Bloomer ’53E, Fred’s stepdaughter and French horn student, has established the Fred Ireton Bradley French Horn Scholarship at the Eastman School of Music. At Tally-Ho Music Camp, Barbara assisted her stepparents with the camp’s activities and societies. Music has always been a large part of her life even after Tally-Ho and her studies at Eastman. She went on to play French horn with the Toronto Symphony and taught generations of French horn students, carrying on her stepfather’s legacy and creating her own.

Martin E. and Corazon D. Sanders ProfessorshipHighly accomplished mezzo-soprano Katherine Ciesinski ’18E (MS) has been named the inaugural recipient of the Martin E.

Thank You for Your SupportYour support of the Eastman School ensures our ability to continue to provide a world-class educational experience by investing in these priorities:

• Scholarships Initiative• Eastman Annual Fund• Special Performances• Innovative Programs• Community Outreach• Student Travel

For information about supporting scholarships or other special programs and projects, please contact:

Eastman School of MusicOffice of Advancement26 Gibbs StreetRochester, NY 14604-2599

585.274.1040866.345.2111 (outside

585 area code)

and Corazon D. Sanders Professorship at Eastman. This endowed professor-ship supports the School’s esteemed Voice and Opera program, whose graduates can be found in major opera houses throughout the world, on Broadway, in Hollywood recording stu-dios, in concert halls, and

throughout communities across America.

The Sanders recognized how the Voice and Opera program fosters the growth of expressive, communica-tive singers, and applauded the School’s dedication to equipping growing artists with the foundation to be versatile, artistically creative, and technically secure.

Eastman Case StudiesPaul R. Judy and Mary Ann Judy have recently increased their support in the development of the Eastman Case Studies. The Institute for Music Leadership has published six volumes of Eastman Case Studies, a total of 30 cases that examine issues and challenges that face to-day’s musical leaders, plac-ing students in the role of

consultant, charged with as-sessing business problems and making key decisions in resolving them. Eastman has just announced a col-laboration with the League of American Orchestras to co-produce a category of The Eastman Case Studies focused on orchestra man-agement that will be used

in the League’s Essentials of Orchestra Management seminar each summer.

The Judys’ generosity allows Eastman to capture timely, dynamic and contemporary issues in the music world, and increases Eastman’s position as the leading resource for musi-cal life case-based teaching.

The Eastman Horn Ensemble (Peter Kurau, director) performing at 2018’s Holiday Sing in Lowry Hall. A gift from Barbara Bloomer ’53E will establish the Fred Ireton Bradley French Horn Scholarship at Eastman, named after her father, a former faculty member.

Katherine Ciesinski


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WALTER COLLEY (ALDRIDGE)

1940s1 Carol (Tinker) Aldridge ’45E, ’50E (MM) has been playing trumpet for over half a century. On October 13, 2018, the 94-year-old played for the 150th Celebration for the Episcopal Senior Life Communities in Rochester. After serving as principal trumpet of the Louisville Orchestra, Carol also taught music in the Greece School District for 28 years and the Royalton-Heartland School District for three. Carol continues playing trumpet for special occa-sions, sharing her passion and inspiring many.

1950sStanley Leonard ’54E premiered several new works for percussion ensemble in the past year and a half: Danza Bamboo at Eastman, Main Street at Kutztown University, Ballade at Louisiana State University, and Interiors at the University of Central Florida. Main Street and Ballade are published by LudwigMasters.

2 Pianist Arlene (Cohen) Stein ’57E, ’71E (MM) and cellist Allen McGill recently celebrated twenty years as the Lyric Arts Duo, which performs recitals through-out Florida. Arlene and her husband of 60 years, Harry, perform as a vocal-piano duo with Arlene as pianist.

Arlene adds that their son Howard is “a Klezmer musician. Yes, full-time occupation! Frequently a person will approach me after a concert, raving about his performance, then ask: ‘Tell me, what does he do for a living?’”

1960sSteven Eckblad ’69E and his deceased spouse, Beverley Williams, received the 2018 Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association Community Service Award. Both taught for more than thirty years in the public schools and for more than forty years as Suzuki teachers. Together they helped start three orchestras and a light opera company.

3 Robert Silverman ’65E (MM), ’70E (DMA) celebrated his 80th birthday with all-Chopin recitals in several cities, including Toronto and Vancouver, and a CD release of the composer’s four Scherzi on Marquis Classics. Robert was the first winner of the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry, and has been appointed to the Order of Canada, an honor accorded about 150 Canadians annually. His former students occupy professorial positions at major Canadian universities and colleges.

The impact on the musical community of Columbus, Ohio of Lynn Herbert

Whiddon ’67E, who died in July 2018, was recently observed by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (conducted by George del Gobbo ’70E), which dedicated its 2018–2019 season to her memory. The Youth Orchestra of Greater Columbus (founded by Mrs. Whiddon) established the Lynn Whiddon Endowment Fund and paid tribute to her at its 25th Anniversary Celebration Concert. Mrs. Whiddon’s husband is Rex Whiddon ’66E, ’69E (MM) and their daughter is Caroline Whiddon ’92E.

1970sKevin Boutote ’76E is the new Director of Recording and Classroom Technology at The Julliard School.

Jeffrey Brillhart ’79E (MM)’s Philadelphia Flourish was premiered at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center in June 2017, recorded by organist Daryl Robinson on his American Fantasia (Gothic Records), and published by E.C. Schirmer. Jeffrey’s A World of Possibilities: Master Lessons in Organ Improvisation, was pub-lished by Wayne Leupold Editions in July 2018. Jeffrey has maintained active teaching and per-forming schedules at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church since 1983; Yale University, where he has taught organ improvisation since 2005; and Philadelphia’s Singing City Choir since 1999.

Susan Bruckner ’75E re-cently conducted interviews with 24 neuroscientists and cognitive psycholo-gists studying music and the brain throughout the United States, Canada, and England. Susan, who taught at Ithaca College and the University of Utah, is director of piano studies at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, CA, and the author of The Whole Musician.

Richard Decker ’72E retired in July 2018 after a 43-year career in the sym-phony orchestra field. Prior to serving as Vice President of Artistic Administration with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (2010–2018), Decker spent 35 years with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra’s horn section (1975–1990) and later as General Manager (1990–2011). He was grateful to come “home” for the final years of his career, working with many fellow Eastman graduates in the RPO and at the school.

Mario Falcao ’71E (MM), Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Fredonia and Visiting Professor at Escola Superior de Musica de

1 Carol (Tinker) Aldridge ’45E, ’50E (MM)

2 Arlene (Cohen) Stein ’57E, ’71E (MM) and Allen McGill 3 Robert Silverman ’65E (MM), ’70E (DMA)


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Lisboa, Portugal, received the American Harp Society’s 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Frederick Hohman ’77E, ’79E (MM), ’89E (DMA) performed a recital for the rededication of the Lyon & Healy pipe organ at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica in Chicago. The organ was damaged when the roof leaked in 2012; subsequent repairs restored the sound of the organ as it was when it opened in 1902.

Geary Larrick ’70E (MM) was presented with an Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2018. Geary continues to perform on percussion and piano and has written ten schol-arly books, as well as many articles and compositions.

Richard (Rick) Lawn ’71E, ’76E (MM) has published his fourth book, Jazz Scores and Analysis, released by Sher Music. Rick was in the first graduating class awarded the MM in Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media spearheaded by his mentor, Ray Wright. His new book is inspired by Wright’s book, Inside the Score, and includes scores by John Fedchock ’85E (MM), and John Hollenbeck ’90E, ’91E (MM). Rick plans a second volume. Professor Emeritus and former dean at the University of the Arts, he continues to teach online courses and compose and

arrange music for various ensembles, published by Kendor Music, eJazzLines, and Baker Jazz and More.

David Owens ’72E enjoyed another performance of his Soliloquy VI for Solo Viola on November 4, by Boston-area violist Anne Black, in a chamber concert in the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston’s Salon Series.

In the Footsteps of Mozart’s Clarinetist: Anton Stadler (1753–1812), by Pamela L. Poulin ’72E, ’77E (MA), ’83E (PhD), will be published

by Pendragon Press in 2019. This is a biography of Mozart’s close friend, for whom he wrote his Clarinet Concerto and Quintet. Until Pamela’s discoveries in Riga, it was not known what Stadler’s clarinet looked like; now it is possible to make reproductions of this unique instrument. Pamela is professor emerita at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.

1980sIn September 2018, the Concord Trio (formerly the

Emerson Trio), consisting of Endre Balogh (violin), Donna Coleman ’86E (DMA) (piano), and Antony Cooke (cello), performed pieces by Clara Schumann and Ravel at The Bing Theater of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Karen (Hanson) Dusek ’87E is the new Managing Director of the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes in Corning, New York.

The Sacred Music Press and the Lorenz Publishing Company recently released

new three works by J. William Greene ’85E (MM), ’85E (DMA): Festive Brass, a collection of 31 concertato style hymn set-tings for brass, organ, and optional timpani; Simply Lent, a collection of easy to moderate organ settings of Lenten hymns; and See How Our Christ Comes, a collection for SATB and organ.

4 Cory Hall ’88E (MM) is founder and editor-in-chief of BachScholar, LLC, which publishes books and resources for pianists and organists. BachScholar specializes in practical and innovative pedagogical studies, as well as books and folios of classical and ragtime keyboard music (original compositions, Urtexts, transcriptions, and arrangements). Cory’s Sight-Reading & Harmony (2017), BSP’s flagship publication, is a national bestseller.

In December 2018, Kevin Honeycutt ’85E was ap-pointed CEO and President of the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy.

John Hunter ’84E, ’98E (MM) recently released Episode 18 of Season 2 of his podcast series, dedicated to Stanley Hasty ’41E, a gifted clarinetist and teacher who traveled the world for two decades be-fore returning to Eastman at Howard Hanson’s request; he remained for more than four decades. Find the podcast at stagedoorpodcast.com.

5 Thomas Lanners ’89E (MM), ’91E (DMA), Professor of Piano at Oklahoma State University, taught at two international summer music festivals in 2018, the AmiCaFest in Italy in June and the Shanghai International Piano Festival and Institute in China in July. Thomas was one of three judges for

4 Cory Hall ’88E (MM)

5 Thomas Lanners ’89E (MM), ’91E (DMA) (far right)


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the Texas Music Teachers Association’s annual competitions in October, and will present a session at the 2019 Music Teachers National Association convention in Washington. Standing next to a poster for the Shanghai Festival are, left to right, Maxim Mogilevsky, New England Conservatory; Yuri Didenko, Moscow Conservatory; Zhe Tang, Shanghai Conservatory; and Tom.

Rick Nelson ’84E (PHD), Emeritus Professor of Music Theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music, recently retired from 42 years of teaching, the last 22 years at CIM, where he was Head of Music Theory and Division Head of Common Core. His late wife, Beth Pearce Nelson ’82E (MM), ’88E (DMA), also taught at CIM. He con-tinues as Director of Music for Children and Youth at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights.

Michael Patterson ’80E (MM), a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer, arranger, orches-trator, and educator, held a four-day workshop at Saint Peter’s Church in New York focusing on writing for large and small string ensembles.

In October bass-baritone Steven Scheschareg ’88E, ’90E (MM), who is based in Vienna, returned to the United States to sing in a Wagner concert with the Plainfield (NJ) Symphony, and in two commemorative concerts for the 80th anni-versary of Kristallnacht in New Jersey and New York City. (See also “recordings,” p. 25.)

Leo Schwartz ’80E is the producer and creator of the Off-Broadway hit The Book of Merman, with music and lyrics by Leo and book by Leo and DC Cathro. Leo is also Executive Director of Flying Elephant Productions in Chicago, and has produced award-winning works for

stage, screen, and the con-cert hall.

Organist Charles Sundquist ’81E (MM), ’00E (DMA) is the new Artistic Director of Chicago’s Anima—The Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus.

6 David Evan Thomas ’83E (MM) was initiated into the Minneapolis/St. Paul Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI) as a National Arts Associate, “a man or woman who is nationally recognized for distinguished contribution to the arts.”

1990s7 Mark Elliot Bergman ’92E, Director of Strings

and Orchestral Studies at Sheridan College, received the 2018/19 Performing Arts Fellowship in Music Composition from the Wyoming Arts Council. Mark’s winning compositions include Ondine; The Temple, based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft; and Shenandoah Suite, a string trio commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of Shenandoah National Park. Mark plans to use his award to produce commercial recordings of his compositions.

Tom Bookhout ’91E (MM) is Director of Performing Arts at Ottawa University’s new residential campus in Surprise, Arizona. Tom

is also in his seventh year as Chorus Master for The Phoenix Symphony.

An interview with Zeneba Bowers ’94E, ’96E (MM) is the cover story of the January 2019 SBO (School Band and Orchestra) magazine. Zeneba discusses her training, including her studies at Eastman with Lynn Blakeslee; her career as a violinist in the Nashville Symphony Orchestra; and her education outreach as a member of the ALIAS chamber ensemble. (See “Brief Notes,” p. 3, for another of Zeneba’s accomplishments.)

Tracy Cowden ’95E (MM), ’00E (DMA) is the Chair of the Department of Music and Roland K. Blumberg Endowed Professor in Music at The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Kim Fraites-Dow ’98E (BA, BM), CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, was named one of the 2018 Most Admired CEOs by the Philadelphia Business Journal. “I stand proud as the executive presenting Girl Scouts, an organization dedicated to female lead-ership,” says Kim, whose Eastman degree was in clarinet performance.

8 Michaela (Anthony) Shelton ’13E (MM) (left), Master Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Harding ’96E, Master Sgt. Michael Mergen ’98E (MM), and Caroline Bean Stute ’06E

6 David Evan Thomas ’83E (MM) 7 Mark Elliot Bergman ’92E


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Kirsten Hadden Lipkens ’90E and Linda Day ’90E were reunited in November 2018 at a Springfield Symphony Youth Orchestra fundraiser. Linda, who is a local violin teacher and retired Austin Symphony violinist, offered her talents. The two have not met since they graduated. Linda has 19 students she loves to teach, and also prepares short fairytale musicals for student ensembles and does Photoshop illustra-tions for them.

On September 18, Megan Loomis ’99E performed her one-woman show The Girl in the Band at the Rochester Fringe Festival. The show featured Megan singing, playing seven different instruments, and telling a compelling memoir.

8 Master Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Harding ’96E, solo cornet; Master Sgt. Michael Mergen ’98E (MM), trumpet/cornetist;

and Caroline Bean Stute ’06E, cellist, all with “The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra, participated in President George H. W. Bush’s State Funeral on December 5, 2018 at Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral. Michaela (Anthony) Shelton ’13E (MM), a current member of the U.S. Army Field Band Soldier’s Chorus, sang in the chorus at Bush’s funeral. “The President’s Own” United States Marine

Band (founded in 1798) or Marine Chamber Orchestra has performed at fourteen presidential funerals, starting with that of John Quincy Adams in 1848.

Cello Secrets: Over 100 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Cellist, by Brian Hodges ’96E, ’98E (MM) and Jo Nardolillo ’08E (DMA), was published in July 2018 by Roman & Littlefield. An accessible textbook for all advanced cello players, Cello Secrets explains over 100 of the most helpful insider tricks and techniques to master the instrument.

In addition to freelanc-ing as a violist with the New York City Ballet, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and on Broadway with Wicked, Joana Miranda ’93E, ’95E (MM) continues her work as an illustrator, with cartoons recently published in The American Legion

Magazine and Renaissance Magazine.

Robert Paterson ’95E received the 2018–2019 Alfred I. duPont Composer’s Award at the Delaware Symphony Orchestra’s season-opening Classics Series concert. Rob’s works have been played by the American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, and many more, and a recording of his opera Three-Way was nominated for a Grammy Award (see page 24).

Vanessa Rose ’98E began her new appointment as American Composers Forum President and CEO on January 1, 2019.

2000sThe second annual Festival Internacional de Música de Câmara took place at the Federal University of Paraiba in Brazil from

August 10 through 17. The University’s Felipe Avellar de Aquino ’00E (DMA) and his wife, Sandra Aquino ’99E (MM), helped organize this festival. They welcomed Jassen Todorov ’00E (MM) and Guillaume Tardif ’00E (DMA) as guest artists. Guillaume also performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the João Pessoa City Symphony Orchestra, and after the festival, Guillaume, Lena Johnson, and Felipe made a short concert tour of Brazil.

Conductor Henry Cheng ’07E is a visiting artist at Cornell University for the 2018–2019 academic year.

Adriana Martínez Figueroa ’00E (MA), ’09E (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Music at Eureka (IL) College, where she teaches voice, musicol-ogy, and music theory.

James Hirschfeld ’03E writes: “I graduated with a BM in Jazz and Contemporary Media. I began working at Columbia University in 2014, and until April 2018, I was the Director of Artistic and Administrative Planning at Columbia’s Miller Theatre. Last April, I started as a Program Officer at the Howard Gilman Foundation, which is the largest private funder of the performing arts in New York City. We even fund some Eastman-related ensembles, such as So Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, and JACK Quartet.”

Andrea Kalyn ’02E (PhD) has been appointed the first female President of the New England Conservatory of Music and started her new position in January 2019.

Jung Sun Kang ’08E (MM), ’13E (DMA) was selected as an artist-in-residence in Willapa Bay AiR for April

9 Jassen Todorov ’00E (MM)


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2019. She is working on a new piece commissioned by a Rochester-based quintet, fivebyfive. This project was awarded a New Music USA grant, and it will be premiered at the Memorial Art Gallery in February 2020. Her new violin and piano piece was released on the Delos label in December.

9 Jassen Todorov ’00E (MM) won two prizes in the 2018 National Geographic Photo Contest for his airborne photos: the Grand Prize for a picture of an auto “boneyard” in the Mojave Desert near Victorville, CA; and the “American Experience Award” for a photo (see page 31) of the destruc-tion from the 2017 fires in Santa Rosa.

Joseph Turrin ’06E (HNR)published Music in Film: Settling the Score (Cognella Press), a book introducing students to the art of film music: the various reasons for including music in film;

the essentials of sound; the origins of film; recording techniques; the business of films; and more. Joseph’s cantata And Crimson Roses Once Again be Fair, based on texts from World War I, was premiered on November 10, 2018 at Washington DC’s Church of the Epiphany, with mezzo-soprano Barbara Dever.

Harpeth Rising, a trio that combines folk, newgrass, rock, and classical into an original sound, has been accepted into American Musicians Abroad. The trio members, Michelle Younger ’09 (MM) (banjo), Jordana Greenberg (violin), and Maria Di Meglio (cello), began their journey as cultural ambassadors in early 2019. The group, which has already toured the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia, is excited to spread their music and passion to more audiences.

2010sEuridice Alvarez ’13E (DMA) recently complet-ed her first semester as Assistant Professor of Oboe at Baylor University.

Quinn Patrick Ankrum ’10E (DMA) is in her second year on the voice faculty at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Jacqueline Arrington ’15E (DMA) is Professor of Flute at the University of Oregon.

Tenor Achilles Bezanis ’18E (MM) and soprano Laura Sanders ’16E, ’18E (MM) were finalists for the 2019 International Collegiate Singing Championship competition presented by American Vocal Arts. Achilles (ten-or) studied with Robert Swensen, and Laura (sopra-no) studied with Katherine Ciesinski.

Sam Bivens ’13E (MA), ’18E (PhD) and Alan Reese ’18E (PhD) have been appointed to the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Sam’s disserta-tion focused on form in Wagner’s Die Walküre, and his burgeoning pet project addresses issues of data visualization in music the-ory. Alan’s research focuses on analytical approaches to 20th-century music, particularly that of Karol Szymanowski.

Michael Conrad ’13E (MM) and Julian Garvue ’16E received second and third place respectively in Spheres of a Genius, an international competition celebrating the 100th birth-day of Thelonious Monk. Eastman’s Bill Dobbins was a panelist for the competition.

Alex Gilson ’18E (MM) is the new Primary Organist and Assistant Director of Music at the First Presbyterian Church in Davenport, Iowa.

The New York Times recently reported on Samuel Mehr’s ’10E research into the effects of music on infants. After graduating from Eastman, Samuel went on to study the basic science of music—why people love music and what music is—at the Harvard Music Lab, which he directs.

Jessica Sindell ’11E is the new Assistant Principal Flute of the Cleveland Orchestra, and was recently appointed to the flute facul-ty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Shannon Leigh Reilly Steigerwald ’16E, ’18E (MM) writes: “In August I began my new position as adjunct violin professor at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where I am the private violin teacher and also coach chamber music. I am also teaching beginner violin classes at Buffalo String Works, a fantastic organization which reaches out to Buffalo’s large refugee community. Last, but not least, my upcoming recital in NYC was featured on icareifyoulisten.com. I premiered A Garden of Live Flowers, by NYC violist-composer Anna Heflin, alongside the Berio violin Sequenza and the Chaconne from Bach’s D minor Partita.

Tyler Wiessner ’15E, ’18E (MM) teaches band instru-ments to students from Grades 4 through 6 at John James Audubon School #33 in the Rochester City School District.

Oliver Wolcott ’13E passed his test for the Airline Transport Pilot certificate with a CL-65 type rating. Oliver says he owes a lot of his success to the skills he acquired in his organ lessons of always preparing to the nth degree, and never accepting anything less than absolute precision.

IN MEMORIAM

1940sMildred (Stapely)

Caccamise ’49E, November 2018 *

Elizabeth (Maynard) Dahlgren ’46E, December 2018

Harriet (Conant) Dearden ’40E, November 2018

Lucile (Ankeney) DeGangi ’48E, December 2018 *

Howard O. Deming ’47E, ’48E (MM), March 2017

Edward P. Diemente ’49W (MM), December 2018

Peter S. Farrell ’48E, ’53E (MM), May 2018

Louis B. Gordon ’48E, ’49E (MM), ’62E (DMA), August 2018

Louise H. Johnson ’43E, ’48E (MM), September 2018

Alma (Lutz) Jones ’45E, February 2018

Louis G. Lane ’47E (MM), January 2016

Ruth (Hagood) Lisso ’45E, September 2018

Betty Jeanne (Wicklund) McNeil ’45E (MM), October 2018

Jeanette (Shieber) Milder ’42E (MM), December 2018

Ruth (Dean) Morris ’49E (MM), September 2018

Evelyn (Paperny) Rothstein ’42E, ’45E (MM), October 2018

Francis M. Sydnor ’40E, March 2003

Robert Willoughby ’42E, March 2018

Laure (Down) Young ’49E, August 2018

1950sEdward A. Barrow ’50E,

’53E (MM), January 2019Betty Birdsey ’50E,

November 2018Dorothy Emile ’51E,

January 2017Eleanor (Allen) Flottman

’53E (MM), June 2018John Thomas Garvey

’57E, August 2018Katherine Hoover

’59E, September 2018Margaret (Nagle) Johnson

’55E, ’72E (MM), January 2019

Frederick M. Miller ’53E (MM), August 2018

Alcestis I. (Bishop) Perry ’55E, December 2018

Robert L. Stern ’55E, ’56E (MA), ’62E (PhD), August 2018

Joyce (Peters) Wheeler ’50 (MA), September 2018

Send us your news and photos!Do you have an announcement you’d like to share with your fellow alumni? Send your personal and professional news to Eastman Notes, Office of Communications, Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street, Rochester, NY 14604.

E-mail: [email protected]

Please do not edit, crop, or resize your digital images. Send the original, full-size file downloaded from your camera or smartphone or provided by the photographer.

We reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity and length.


{ ALUMNI NOTES }

PHOTO BY NICKOLAS MURAY, © NICKOLAS MURAY PHOTO ARCHIVES/COURTESY OF THE GEORGE EASTMAN MUSEUM

Musings of a Dance Musician: Reverberations from Eastman’s PastWhen pianist Judith Rosenberg ’68E, ’70E (MM) decided to tell Eastman Notes the story of her career as a dance accompanist, she discovered that dance was originally an important part of Eastman’s story as well.

By Judith RosenbergWhat started out as a memoir of my time at Eastman quickly developed into a research project. To learn of Martha Graham’s brief but important year there, from 1925 to 1926, was revelatory, because at Eastman she began to formulate her ideas about what dance could be as an inde-pendent art form. Because she was unable to afford the $500 fee that Ted Shawn demanded for use of his own movement innovations, Graham began her own explorations, which resulted in an iconic American Modern Dance move-ment vocabulary.

At the turn of the century, Ted Shawn and his wife, Ruth St. Denis, had begun to develop a new approach to dance that had nothing to do with ballet. Ms. Graham saw their Orientalist-inspired concerts as a young woman, became enthralled, and began to study and perform with the company. She began to realize that dance could be so much more profound than the light entertainment in vaudeville or as a diversion between reels of a silent film, and could express different facets of the human condition. Graham’s father, a doctor who practiced an early form of psychiatry, had taught her “Movement doesn’t lie.”

And so, when Rouben Mamoulian invited her to join the dance faculty of the short-lived Dance and Dramatic Action department at Eastman, she accept-ed. When it became clear that Howard Hanson, the new director, did not under-stand what she wanted to do—to develop a new art form—she left for New York City and never looked back. Graham went on to be consid-ered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. But she began at Eastman in 1925.

I arrived at Eastman in 1966, a transfer student from Brooklyn College. While there, I played ballet classes for Olive McCue, who had her own studio in downtown Rochester, very close to Eastman. This was my first job playing for ballet. I knew Miss McCue only as a charismatic teacher who demanded respect and received devotion from her students. It was only recently, as I began my investigations, that I discovered who she was and the important role she had played in ballet at Eastman and in the city of Rochester.

She and Thelma Biracree had founded the Mercury Ballet, and the company had had a major role in opera performances at the Eastman Theater. Further reading led me to connect Biracree with Martha

Graham, who had taken Biracree, along with two other Eastman students, with her to New York. These students formed the basis of Graham’s first company, and they performed her first works in concert. Biracree returned to Rochester, and brought with her the body memory of Graham’s movements, which must have influenced everything she did in dance for the rest of her career.

While still at Eastman, I accompanied Modern Dance classes at the downtown Rochester Y. Since I could improvise, I somehow managed to keep up with the teacher. Jim Payton had been a double major at Juilliard in dance and oboe, and as the teacher, was able to guide me.

After graduation, I stayed in the area, playing at SUNY Brockport, where I learned the art and craft of accompany-ing ballet and modern dance.

While at Brockport, I noticed a small dance studio named for Daniel Nagrin. I had no idea who he was. Some years later, I met him at the American Dance Festival and played for his Advanced Modern Dance class. He brought music out of me that I didn’t know existed. One day, he asked me to stay after class. He said “You’ve got good musical ideas but I want you to develop them in class.” I was expected to do this the very next day. And so, it was a dancer who first encouraged me as a composer.

After three years, I applied and was accepted as Music Director in Dance at Mills College in Oakland, California. I stayed 37 years.

During that time, I learned about the history of American Modern Dance and about all the different techniques and movement vocabularies within that his-tory. The music had to reflect and help the

dancers in their use of time, space and force. In choreography class, I experimented with different ways that different musical settings could influence the dance and the dancer. It was wonderful.

I offered a course in ballet history, and became aware of the cen-tral role of composers in the creation of masterpieces in the dance canon. Beginning, perhaps, with Lully and later Rameau contributing to eighteenth-century opera-ballets, to Tchaikovsky’s scores for the Czar’s court, to Stravinsky’s scores for the Ballet Russes and later for Balanchine, the brilliance of the music, as much as the brilliance of the choreography, resulted in these iconic works.

In 2001, I began to compose and perform for silent film at Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley, using everything I had learned accompanying for dance and applying it to the screen.

It has been my privilege and my joy to have had a life as a musician for dance, and more recently, for film. And the seed was first planted at Eastman.

Martha Graham (shown here dancing with Ted Shawn) was at Eastman only from 1925 to 1926, yet in that year she created the basis of her unique choreographic style.


{ ALUMNI NOTES }

TRIBUTES

Abram LoftAbram Loft, distinguished profes-sor emeritus of chamber music, died peacefully in his Rochester home on February 1, at age 97.

A violinist and violist, Abram Loft served as chair of the string department and professor of chamber music at Eastman from 1979 until his retirement in 1986. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Columbia University (Ph.D., musicology), and lectured in music history at the Manhattan School of Music from 1951 to 1954. As a member of the Fine Arts Quartet from 1954 to 1979, he performed throughout the world, and served on the fac-ulty of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee from 1963 to 1979.

After his retirement from Eastman, Abram Loft served as a competition judge and chamber music coach. In a 2003 interview, he stated: “As an adult, I had the opportunity to perform some of the solo

repertoire, but my focus was—and remained—chamber music. I proved to be quite good at it and never looked back.”

Dr. Loft was a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Musicological Society and of College Music Society’s Symposium, a con-tributor to the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, and the author of Violin and Keyboard: The Duo Repertoire; Ensemble!—A Rehearsal Guide to Thirty Great Works of Cham-ber Music; and How to Succeed in an Ensemble: Reflections on a Life in Chamber Music.

He received the University’s Edward P. Curtis Award for Undergraduate Teaching (1984) and the American String Teachers Association’s Distinguished Service Award (1993).

Eastman celebrated Abram Loft at a memorial con-cert held on May 12, 2019 in Hatch Recital Hall.

Allan SchindlerBorn in Stamford, Connecticut, Allan Schindler pursued his undergraduate education at Oberlin College and his master’s and doctoral studies in compo-sition and musicology at the University of Chicago, where he studied with Ralph Shapey and Richard Wernick.

In 1978 he came to Eastman, where he taught composi-tion and directed the Eastman Computer Music Center, and was a founder and co-director of the ImageMovementSound Festival, which for twelve years sponsored the creation and presentation of innovative collaborative works incorporating music, film, and dance. He retired in 2015, when he was named Professor Emeritus of Composition, and died on October 8, 2018.

Allan Schindler’s imaginative acoustic works,

works that feature or employ computer music resources, and multimedia compositions that include video, film or dance, have been performed throughout the world. He served on numerous new music, computer music, composition, and foundation organizations and competitions. His publications include the music appreciation text Listening to Music, and many articles, essays and reviews.

Allan Schindler’s life and music, with contributions from former colleagues and students, were celebrated at a concert presented by the East-

man Audio Research Studio on November 7, 2018 in Kilbourn Hall. For the program from this event, go to esm.rochester.edu/uploads/Allan-Memorial- Concert-Program.pdf

1960sEdwin D. Anderson

’63E, October 2018 *Lynette Halvorson ’60E

(PhD), November 2014Abner Martin ’67MM,

November 2018Harvey M. Olin ’61E (MM),

December 2018Steven M. Parsons

’61E, ’68E (MM), September 2018

Charles Adam Richards ’64E, December 2018

Norman C. Schweikert ’61E, December 2018

Edward Pierce Small III ’67E (MM), January 2011

Philip John Swanson ’62E, ’64E (MM), November 2018

George W. VanOstrand ’60E (MM), ’71E (DMA), September 2018

A. John Walker ’61E, ’64E (MA), ’72E (PhD), August 2018

1970sSusan Wharton Conkling

’89E (MM), ’94E (PhD) November 2018

Gerald Maxfield Hansen ’70E (DMA), November 2018

John Thomas Hofmann ’73 (DMA), September 2018

Deborah Sharpe-Lunstead ’75E, July 2018

Ralph Frank Thorp ’70E, November 2018

Christopher Joseph Vadala ’70E, January 2019

William Henry Watson ’71E, September 2018

Robert Fortson Williams ’73E (PhD), May 2018

1990sRobert Edward Frazier

’98E (MM), ’03E (DMA), October 2018

Andra Lia (Lund) Padrichelli ’98E, December 2018

2000sChris Ann Albright

’02E, July 2014

In Tribute reflects deaths of Eastman alumni through December 31, 2018.

Innovative and imaginative: composer Allan Schindler taught in Eastman’s Composition Department for almost thirty years.

“Quite good at chamber music,” indeed: violinist Abram Loft chaired the Eastman Strings Department from 1979 to 1986.

* Attended Eastman classes only.


{ FACULTY NOTES }

Chris Azzara ’88E (MM), ’92E (PhD), chair of the Mu-sic Teaching and Learning department, was a featured speaker at the National Association for Music Education Conference in Dallas last November. Chris led “Inspiration,” a two-day “Opus/learning track” on creativity. Conference Opus presenters included Eastman Assistant Profes-sor of Music Teaching and Learning Alden Snell ’06E (MA), ’13E (PhD), and Lynn Grossman ’07E, ’13E (PhD) and Julie Scott ’10E (PhD).

Elena Bellina, assistant pro-fessor of Italian, was award-ed Harvard University’s Lauro de Bosis Post-Doc-toral Fellowship, supporting her research and writing of a book about the history of Italian civilization. Elena is researching and writing a book about artistic activ-ities among Italian POWs in Allied camps in Africa between 1940 and 1947.

1 In August, Professor Michael Burritt ’84E, ’86E (MM), along with current and former members of the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, performed a sold-out concert at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing. Mike was accompanied by DMA students Brant Blackard and Connor Stevens, both ’15E (MM), and alumni Cameron Leach ’18E (MM) and Kyle Peters ’17E (MM). Later in the year, Mike was selected to serve as President-Elect of the Percussive Arts Society.

Professor of Music Theory Jonathan Dunsby published an edition and translation, along with Jonathan Goldman and Arnold Whittall, of Music Lessons by Pierre Boulez. Music Lessons was twice named “book of the year” in the UK national press.

Professor of Voice Anthony Dean Griffey ’01E (MM)

was in the cast of Nico Muhly’s Marnie, which pre-miered at the Metropolitan Opera in October and was seen in the Met’s “Live in HD” series. OperaWire commented: “Griffey’s Mr. Strutt was a gruff, obnoxious fellow, the tenor blasting sound throughout to drive home the charac-terization. He delivered it to perfection.”

Associate Professor of Musicology Lisa Jakelski’s Making New Music in Cold War Poland: The Warsaw Autumn Festival, 1956–1968 was awarded the 2018 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies from the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.

Guy Johnston ’12E, asso-ciate professor of cello, is featured in a recording on

the Chandos label of rare-ly-heard works by Gustav Holst, the composer of The Planets. Guy is the soloist in Holst’s Invocation, accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

In December, Associate Professor Mark Kellogg ’86E and Assistant Professor of Accompanying Priscilla Yuen ’11E (MM) were featured guest artists for the Trombone Association of Pernambuco’s Festival in Recife, Brazil. On December 1, Mark and Professor of Trombone Larry Zalkind spent a day in residence at Chicago’s Merit School of Music.

2 At Eastman’s 94th Commencement on May 19, Professor of Theory Betsy Marvin ’81E (MA), ’89E

(PhD) was named the first Minehan Professor. Betsy is shown here with University Trustee Cathy Minehan ’68, whose generous gift made the professorship possible. (See also page 23.)

Professor Honey Meconi’s Hildegard of Bingen was published by the University of Illinois Press—the first book in English about Hildegard as a compos-er. Honey adds: “In my other realm (the sixteenth century), I gave the keynote address at the international conference in Belgium marking the 500th anniver-sary of the death of Pierre de la Rue, coincidentally on the anniversary of the exact date that he passed away.”

Professor of Viola George Taylor was the soloist in Bartók’s Viola Concerto on December 9 with the Chapel Hill (UNC) Philharmonia, conducted by Donald L. Oehler.

Associate Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Media Dariusz Terefenko ’98E (MM), ’03E (MA), ’04E (PhD) published the first of two volumes of Jazz Voicings for Piano: The complete linear approach.

Instructor of Music Theory Alexander Trygstad ’13E (MM), ’17E (MA), ’17E (DMA) published two CD

reviews in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Viola Society.

Robert Wason, Professor Emeritus of Theory, published the essay “Tonal Structure and Bartók’s Revision of the First Movement” in a new edi-tion of Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion by Boosey and Hawkes.

Associate Professor and Chair of Musicology Holly Watkins recently published Musical Vitalities: Ventures in a Biotic Aesthetic of Mu-sic (University of Chicago Press). In this book Holly draws fascinating parallels between music’s formal processes and those of the dynamic natural world.

Eastman’s Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media may only be a few years old, but in November, the Hollywood Reporter ranked it sixth among the 25Top Schools for Scoring for Movies and TV. The insti-tute, led by Mark Watters, was established in 2015 by Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal ’85E (House of Cards) and his wife, Joan Beal ’84E. Only six students participate each year, limiting the entire program to a dozen.

The CD Songtree (Oberlin Music) is devoted to recent works by Professor Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon; the performers include soprano Tony Arnold, a former Hanson Professor and frequent visitor to Eastman, and guitarist Dieter Hennings ’05E, ’15E (DMA).

1 Michael Burritt ’84E, ’86E (MM)

2 Betsy Marvin (right) with University Trustee Cathy Minehan


{ STUDENT NOTES }

ADRIAN KRAUS

Oliver Brett, DMA student of David Higgs, gave the opening recital of the 2018 Canadian International Organ Competition; Oliver won second prize in the 2017 CIOC.

1 Nathan Cheung, DMA student of Natalya Anton-ova, won the third prize at the Wideman International Piano Competition at Cen-tenary College in Shreve-port, Louisiana.

Charlotte Collins received the Jane R. Plitt Award from the University’s Susan B. Anthony Center. This honor, given to a female undergraduate who demonstrates exceptional leadership and community service on behalf of women, was awarded at the annual Susan B. Anthony Legacy Awards Ceremony on January 26.

2 Ben Dettelback ’19E, a student of Larry Zalkind, is the new Principal Trombone of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and of Syracuse’s Symphoria. His teacher adds, “Ben will live in Syracuse and commute to both, no doubt with side trips to Rochester.”

3 Double bassist Dalanie Harris, a student of James

VanDemark, is Eastman’s leader in “The String Bank Project”, a nonprofit started at the USC Thornton School of Music in 2016 for professional musicians to provide gently used strings to instrumental students in underprivi-leged schools. Thanks to Dalanie, donation boxes have been placed outside string faculty members’ studios. Donors throughout the United States include violinist Sarah Chang and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. For more infor-mation visit thestringbank.org

4 Molly Murdock, a music theory PhD student, has created MusicTheory ExamplesbyWomen.com, a

database of compositions by women for use by musicians, theorists, musicologists, and many others. Molly’s primary research is in the 20th-century Hungarian composers Erzsébet Syőnyi and Béla Bartók. She has presented her research for the International Kodály Society, and is preparing an English edition of Bartók’s Twenty-Seven Choruses for Women and Children. In 2016, Molly received Eastman’s Annual Teaching Assistant Prize, and in 2018 the University’s Presidential Diversity Award as a remarkable and creative advocate for gender equity in the performance and scholarship of music.

5 Tenor Jonathan Rhodes and pianist Lee Wright, took part in Prophet of Freedom: Honoring Frederick Douglass in Word and Song, the celebra-tion of Douglass’s 200th anniversary co-sponsored by Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester on December 3, 2018. Jonathan and Lee per-formed “Farewell Song of Frederick Douglass” by Julia Griffiths, written in 1847 and not heard publicly in more than a century. Only two copies survive, one in the British Library and one in the UR Library.

Yidi Song, from Bonita Boyd’s studio, won the 2018 Piccolo Competition

of the Rochester Flute Association.

Eastman student composer Reilly Spitzfaden’s new work Skin lives in wires, scored for percussion, bass, and saxophone and a custom-made motor instru-ment, was commissioned and premiered by OSSIA in Kilbourn Hall last semester.

Andrew Watkins’s composition What Else Can I Tell You will be featured in the New Music Masterclass sessions at the 2019 International Jazz Composers’ Symposium, to be held in May at the University of Northern Colorado.

Oliver Xu is one of three re-cipients of the University’s Wells Award. This award recognizes seniors who are majoring in an engineering discipline, while also pursu-ing a major or minor in one of the humanities. Oliver majors in applied music and computer science through the Dual Degree with Eastman program.

Zachary Zwahlen, a cur-rent DMA student, will take the position of Assistant University Organist at the University of the South Sewanee in Tennessee.

5 Jonathan Rhodes

1 Nathan Cheung 2 Ben Dettelback

3 Dalanie Harris

4 Molly Murdock

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A 17th-Century Grammy WinnerIn February, tenor Karim Sulayman ’98E pulled off an unexpected 2019 Grammy win: Best Solo Vocal Performance, Classical, for Songs of Orpheus (Avie Records), a recital with Apollo’s Fire and Jeannette Sorrell, who is pictured with Karim. The program devised by Karim combines virtuoso vocals with scholarship, telling the story of Orpheus through the music of composers of 17th-century Italy: Monteverdi, Caccini, d’India, and Landi.

“I really think those composers are masters,” says Karim, “and

they’re too often ignored or forgotten by the ‘mainstream’ of the classical/opera world.”

“Being in LA was mind-blowing,” says Karim. “I was honestly just so happy to be there, without any real expectation of winning. I was handed my trophy by the incredible jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Savant, one of my ‘desert island’ artists. So I think I was a complete blubbering fool during my speech. I have no idea what I said.” Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

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